


Cursed Blood

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, Fantasy AU, Multi, Sequel pending, Short, Werewolves, also on ff.net, and then i'm inevitably reminded of chapter five, chapter five is pretty much one giant trigger, literally all the archive warnings are for chapter five pretty much, sometimes i think that a story with actual cannibals is the most awful thing i've ever written, the summary is literally just taken from ff.net, written circa 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 14:30:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 25
Words: 32,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6156629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Werewolves are real. They exist in two types: the Exalted and the Damned. Annabeth Chase is the princess of Athens. It is her duty to join the Hunt and kill the creatures that have all but destroyed the greatest kingdom of the Golden Lands. But when she encounters a certain pack of Exalted, she realizes they may have been wrong about the nature of the beasts all along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Curse of Blood & Moonlight

_...No one truly knows how the curse came to be. Some claim it as a punishment from the gods. Others said it was the grotesque product of unnatural unions between wolves and men. But no matter the origin story, all who tell the tale agree on some things, the first being that the beasts are bloodthirsty, soulless monsters who kill without discrimination..._

Olympia, the land from which our heroes hail, was once a great and prosperous land, known to all its neighbours as the Golden Kingdom.

'Olympia is blessed by the gods!' was what the royal family claimed.

And it would seem that way, what with the plentiful harvests and mild winters. But seven-hundred-and-fifty years ago, that all changed.

Good King Nikoloas and his wife, the gracious Queen Jocelyn, were celebrating the birth of their children, the twins Lucian and Luna, who were their only heirs, for Nikoloas and Jocelyn were both nearing their fiftieth year. There would be no more children.

To celebrate the birth of the twins, they invited all the royal families of all the neighbouring kingdoms to a great ball.

On the eve of the ball, once all the guests had arrived - King Oberon and Queen Titania, of the kingdom of Avalon; Simba and Nala, the leaders of Pride Rock; Artemis and Apollo, the twin rulers of Celestra, just to name a few - King Nikoloas stood up in front of his guests and thanked them for coming.

After Nikoloas had said his piece, Jocelyn took her turn in front of the audience, and thanked the guests as, one by one, they brought forward a gift and laid it down at the foot of the children's crib.

As Artemis and Apollo stepped forward to present their gift, the doors to the great hall flew open with a bang.

Everyone turned to face the doors.

Striding through the entrance as if she owned the place, parting the people as easily as Moses parted the sea, was a woman dressed in rich wolf furs of all shades - brown, black, grey, white and russet. Her hair was the colour of new fallen snow, her skin the colour of full moonlight.

Her eyes were the colour if old blood and they shone with a malevolent light.

"Nikoloas," she announced. "Jocelyn. My old _friends_." She stressed the last word with a hefty amount of sarcasm.

Jocelyn chose not to notice this. "Lupa," she greeted the Wolf Queen. "What brings you here?"

Lupa arched an eyebrow at the gentle Queen.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for your children."

Jocelyn smiled at her graciously. "Thank you, Lupa. We welcome your gift."

Lupa threw back her head and laughed out loud. "That is what you think _now,_ " she hissed. "But I assure you, _Queen of Olympia,_ you and yours will be cursing this 'gift' for eons to come."

Jocelyn frowned. Her husband drew her closer to his person. "Speak plainly, Queen of Wolves," he growled out. "Tonight is a night of celebration. Gods forbid your poison filled riddles ruin it for my wife and I."

"What care I that you wish tonight to be a night of peace? For I was not invited."

Jocelyn paled. "Lupa, I assure you, we did not mean to offend. Your invitation must have simply been misplaced. But now that you are here, you are more than welcome to stay and enjoy the festivities-"

" _SILENCE!_ " Lupa roared. Her pupils dilated. Madness radiated from her. "I will not let this insult slide! Do you - _all of you_ \- truly think that I do not hear what you whisper behind my back? That I do not here the slurs you throw around? You hate me more than you hate Ares! This is the last straw! You must all be taught a _lesson_." Panting hard, Lupa paused for breath. Turning to face the crib that held the twins. She raised her hands.

" _Lupus!_ " She bellowed out.

There was a flash of light, like the light of a full moon, and Lupa vanished.

With a sob, Jocelyn flew towards her children, as the audience made up of her guests looked on in horror.

The Queen of Olympia felt relief like no mortal woman had ever felt before when she saw her two children, safe, sound and happy.

Jocelyn felt a small but strong hand grip her shoulder.

She looked up to see the bronze haired, silver-eyed princess of Celestra standing over her, but staring at her children with a scrutinizing gaze that was wise beyond her years.

"My Queen," Artemis said. "Do you know what ' _lupus_ ' means?"

"No. I do not."

"Wolf," the princess supplied. "It means 'wolf.'"

Her brother, Apollo, stepped forward, his face unusually grave. "Your children have been cursed," he stated matter-of-factly.

Nikoloas let out a roar. "Cursed! What do you mean?"

The prince of Celestra remained silent.

The King of Olympia growled. "Speak plainly, prince, or I shall cut out your tongue."

"A curse of blood and moonlight," Artemis answered. "But that is all I can see for now." Artemis turned towards her brother. "Shall we give our gifts now, do you think?" she asked.

Apollo nodded. "Perhaps not the gift we were originally planning to give, but yes."

Artemis placed one hand on Luna's forehead. "I have only enough power for one," she commiserated.

"Just do your best," Apollo murmured.

Artemis closed her eyes. " _Exaltátum_ ," she whispered, feeling the power the word held shiver down through her body and out of her fingertips, seeping into the sleeping baby girl, protecting her from the worst of the curse. "I am sorry I cannot save your brother also, little one," Artemis whispered.

Behind her, she could hear her brother explaining to the Olympian monarchs the true nature of the curse.

"Lupa has tried to transform your children into bloodthirsty, immortal beasts. Artemis has saved the girl, but she cannot save the boy. Neither can I, for I do not hold that power. What I can do, however, is cast a small fertility spell upon you so you can conceive again."

"Why must we have another child? If Luna has been saved-"

"Luna's _humanity_ has been saved. The curse will still affect her, but she will retain her soul. She will not become a monster."

"And you need another child, because one born of Olympian blood can break the curse, I fear," Artemis interjected. "If you do conceive again, your line will die out, as will Olympia."

Nikoloas bowed his head. "We accept," he said

_...Artemis and Apollo took Lucian and Luna away that night, and the story of what had happened was eventually forgotten over the ages._

_The only part that was remembered was what Artemis had said: 'One born of the blood of Olympia is destined to break the curse. She is the cure. All you have to do is wait for her to arrive.'_

_And so, Olympia waited._

_Through each generation, as attacks grew more and more frequent, as the beasts started hunting every night rather than just on full moons, they waited._

_But no daughter was born to the royal blood line of Olympia._

_At least, not until the present day._

_The first Princess of Olympia to be born in 750 years, to be born since Luna. Princess Annabeth Chase, firstborn princess of Olympia..._


	2. Chapter One: The High Princess

_The light of several hundred candles glinted off of the silver of the blade. The entire court was hushed as the High Princess approached the monster that was chained to the floor at the foot of the King and Queen's thrones. At that moment, the beast wore the guise of a young girl – no older than thirteen – but all present knew the truth of her nature._

_The girl's blue eyes were wide and fearful as the blonde haired beauty approached. Even though the Princess was almost a full two years younger than her, the royal held the upper hand. The blade she held loosely in her hands reeked the sharp scent of silver in the air – silver being the bane of all Lupus – whether they were Damnatorum, or Exaltátum, like her._

_The humans did not know that there were two types of Lupus – ones descended from Luna, who retained their humanity, much like their forebear; and ones descended from Lucian, who were damned, beasts in every sense, the exact image of what the humans thought of all of them._

_In fact, humans did not know that all Lupus, born or bitten, were descended from their precious royal family. That titbit had been struck from the history books long ago; she had been told when she was only a very small cub._

_The golden haired princess watched the wolf-girl in front of her suspiciously. Her black hair hung over her face, partly obscuring her eyes, but the electric blue orbs still were so bright they seemed to glow through strands of hair._

_The princess spoke the words she had been taught. "You have been found guilty of the crime of holding the curse of blood and moonlight. Thus I,_ Regina _Annabeth, sentence you to death by silver." As she had been speaking, the princess had been stepping closer to the wolf-girl, and she now raised her blade above her head, preparing to bring it down and slit the beast's throat._

_As the silver made contact with her flesh, the blue-eyed wolf-girl screamed. When it came to the Lupi, you didn't even really need a blade. So long as your weapon was silver, it could be the bluntest object ever, but it would kill almost instantly. Steel, however, no matter how sharp, had next to no effect on the beasts._

_Annabeth had been taught all this since she was a very small child, but this was the first Lupus she had ever seen alive._

_This Lupus was her first kill._

_"Please."_

_Annabeth faltered. Her arms froze in mid-air._

_The Lupi girl was staring at her, pleading with her eyes. "Please." Her voice was naught but a whisper._

_Annabeth turned to her parents, uncertain. King Frederick nodded encouragingly. "Slay the beast, as is your destiny," he intoned._

_"I'm not a monster," the girl protested in a broken voice. "I've never killed anyone. I'm good, I swear. Please!"_

_Annabeth's step mother snorted. Up until then she had been silent, cradling the young Princes, Robert and Matthew, in her arms. "Kill it so I can take your brothers back to their chambers,_ Filia _," she said._

_Annabeth pressed the dagger against its throat._

_The resulting scream echoed throughout the throne room, loud enough that Annabeth wouldn't have been surprised if it woke up the entire Olympian kingdom._

_Where the silver of the dagger met her skin, the wolf-girls flesh seemed to evaporate away, bubbling as if the silver was acid._

_Annabeth gulped. The silver dagger was literally eating away the Lupi's flesh. Suddenly, a crash, loud enough to be heard over the screams._

_Annabeth jerked away from the Lupi, reflexively turning towards the sound of smashing windows._

_The wolf-girl made a sound that might have been a sob of relief._

_A dark shape flew into the room – a wolf, the colour of midnight._

_It howled when it saw the girl on the floor, and Annabeth flinched as it_ spoke _in her mind._

Thalia!

_The voice was young, and male. The young princess glanced around to see if anyone else had heard the beast speak, but judging from the lack of reaction of the aristocrats gathered, she guessed the answer was not._

_The black wolf skittered towards the girl – Thalia – fast, but slipping and skidding on the tiled floor._

_If not for the frozen shock of everyone there, the two Lupi would have been killed within seconds._

_As it was, they only just made it out. The black wolf gently tossed Thalia atop his back, and all but flew out of there._

_At the entrance to the hall, he glanced back, and looked directly at the princess._

_Green eyes met grey, and the world froze for Annabeth Chase, High Princess of Olympia._

_She didn't notice that guards were moving around her; shouting. She could only see those eyes...they had seemed so... ...human._

_Hunters and Guardians were racing out the doors, but the wolf had vanished. And Annabeth found herself praying that both Lupi got far, far away._

_Ever since that day, that 'chance' encounter, those eyes have haunted the High Princess of Olympia._

_And she vowed to herself that she would do anything to see that wolf again._

**MANY YEARS EARLIER, MANY LEAGUES AWAY**

Over the sea from Olympia lay another powerful kingdom, the kingdom of Atlantis. This kingdom was ruled by the High King Poseidon and his wife, the fair Amphitrite. Their firstborn, Triton, would one day rule over Atlantis, and, they secretly hoped, Olympia.

The regents of Atlantis had heard the news - the Olympian queen, Athena, had given birth to her first child, a beautiful baby girl by the name of Annabeth. At once, Poseidon sent Delphin, his lieutenant, to the Olympians, with an offer he felt sure they couldn't refuse.

He offered their daughter Triton's hand, and for a very reasonable dowry.

So, it came as an absolute shock when their refusal arrived.

"Calm down, love," Amphitrite said as she tried to sooth her husband. "There are other princesses."

Poseidon roared. "I will not let this insult stand! This is Athena's work, I am sure of it. Frederick is a reasonable man; he would see the good that would come from this union. Athena has always hated me, and now she seeks revenge in the form of denial!"

"I think it has more to do with that prophecy of theirs, love," Amphitrite said. "You know, the one about the _Regina_ destined to defeat the Lupi and break the curse."

Poseidon snorted. "A girl, the one prophesied to vanquish those monsters? Ridiculous."

Amphitrite sighed as a wail came echoing from down the hall. "Where is that wet-nurse?" she mumbled to herself as she wondered down the hall to Triton's nursery.

Poseidon sighed as his wife left the throne room. _They must pay for this insult to me and mine_ , he thought.

Abruptly, he stood, and all but ran out of the throne room.

Medea wasn't the girl's real name. Just as Circe wasn't the other's. They were merely names they had taken to hide what they truly were - asylum seekers from Olympia. So when the door to their shop flew open and the King himself thundered in, they were sure that they had been discovered.

Instead, they learned, the king had come to them for the kind of help only they could offer.

"I need Athena dead," he said. "But I need it to be an accident," he added.

"A lot of storms this time of year," Medea said.

"Big ones," Circe agreed.

"Can you do it?" Poseidon asked. "Easily," Circe said.

"But all magic comes with a price," Medea said.

Poseidon snorted. "Name your price."

"We wish not for gold or precious stone," Circe cautioned. "We want something that is a true blow against you."

Medea nodded sagely.

"But why help me if your price is a hindrance against me?"

Medea snorted. "You are a man, therefore, we hate you."

The king blinked. "Well, that seems a little prejudiced."

"Oh, it is," they assured him. "In return for our help, we require two things."

"Name them," Poseidon said stonily.

Circe giggled. "Such bravery," she sighed, as she pretended to swoon.

"Such _stupidity_ ," Medea corrected.

"We require, first, a drop of your blood."

Poseidon looked uneasy, and also confused, but he nodded. After all, what harm could they wreak with just one drop?

"Second, we require a woman who currently resides in your dungeons. A woman by the name of Sally Jackson."

Poseidon's eyes darkened. No-one in Atlantis had two names. That was an Olympian trend, and at that moment, he hated Olympia.

"Why should I let a criminal go free?" he growled.

"Because you require our help," Medea said. "And we require hers."

"Now, go and fetch her," Circe ordered. "And, while you're away, see if you can do something about shaking that horribly depressing chip off of your shoulders."

Scowling, the High King left.

Medea leaned into Circe. "Do you think he knows of the true price?" She queried.

Circe laughed throatily. "Of course not! What respectful king knows of blood magic?" Her eyes darkened with mirth. "He'll never know that for the life of the Olympian queen, we took the life of his son."

Sally Jackson was a simple woman. Not by means of intelligence - for hers far surpassed that of many men - but by way of lifestyle. She preferred the small things, and valued family above all - after all, though she came from a big one, she had precious few _living_ blood kin.

The rest - her parents, siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins - had been hunted down by the royal guard of Olympia, for the crime of being Lupi.

Sally gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, the better to hide her elongated canines and glowing eyes with.

Yes, she came from a long line of Lupi, both Light and Dark (she herself was pledged to the side of light), but that was not why she was, at that current moment in time, rotting in an Atlantic gaol cell.

She was in said cell because she was an Olympian.

Prejudices were so incredibly stupid.

A clang from above drew her attention, and she ran her tongue over her teeth, making sure they were all flat, human. She squeezed her eyes shut once again; only opening them once she was sure all evidence of her wolven side had been pushed out of her irises.

Although the Atlantians were not as prejudiced towards her species as the Olympians were, she was still a monster to them.

And, no matter what kingdom you lived in, monsters were killed on sight. The heavy thud of footsteps reached Sally's ears, and she tensed, bracing her back against the wall, prepared to fight her way out – to the death, if need be. "Relax, scum," a voice spoke to her in the lilting tones of an Atlantian – the inflections on each word stressed out in all the wrong places.

Sally lifted her gaze, and stared directly into the eyes of Poseidon, King of Atlantis.


	3. Chapter Two: Blood & Bone China

" _Filia, stay still, I'm trying to brush your hair." A woman in her mid-thirties scolded the young princess playfully. Annabeth, at the pure and innocent age of five, did not yet know what the affectionate name everyone at the palace called her by meant yet. She only knew that sitting still was boring, and that her hair seemed fine to her._

" _But_ why _must I have my hair brushed?" She whined plaintively._

_Her lady-in-waiting stiffened. "Your father is to marry today, Filia," she said in a low tone. "You must look your best."_

_Annabeth knew the woman was so tense because she was afraid the princess would burst into tears at the mention of her soon-to-be-step-mother. Even though she was only five, she was remarkably intelligent – something her father insisted she got from her mother. But Annabeth had never known her mother. Athena of Olympia was naught but a faint memory in the back of the young princesses' mind. She was glad her father had found someone, even if she_ was _a bit mean at times._

_But Annabeth still didn't want to sit still and get her hair brushed with nothing to entertain her mind in the meantime. "Tell me a story as you work," she demanded of the ladies' maid imperiously._

_The woman gaped at the blonde curls that hung in wild array down the younger girl's back. Regaining her composure after a slight pause, she responded with a muttered, "Of course."_

" _A scary one," Annabeth insisted further. "Tell me about the Wolven."_

_Adelie – for that was the maid's name – paled. That subject was forbidden. "I – I can't, Filia."_

_Annabeth frowned. "You have to obey me. Tell me a story about the wolven!"_

_Adelie gulped. "Of – of course, m'lady."_

_Annabeth settled in, the strokes of the brush against her locks soothing when combined with the lilting sing-song tone of Adelie's voice._

" _Once upon a time – before you were born, Filia, and when I was only a small infant against my mama's breast – there was a man named Elijah Woods. He was the proprietor of Woods China, the company that made the finest bone china in all the land. So fine, in fact, it soon became of big demand in the houses of royals and aristocrats, not only in Olympia, but in other kingdoms too. Some rulers even braved crossing the Sea of Silver to inspect his works, which were truly flawless – almost works of art, actually."_

" _But Elijah had a secret. Before he had started his company – only a month or two before, mind – he was attacked by one of the Wolven, a Lupi, and they delivered unto him a fate worse than death, by the standards of all men."_

" _They bit him, and left him there to turn."_

" _The night of his first full moon, he had made the workers in his factory stay, to work overtime. A big order had come in from across the sea – a far off kingdom called Narnia – and the order had to be filled with all haste, to catch the ship in less than a week."_

" _After he shifted once the moon had reached its peak, he killed them all – each and every single one of them. Probably revelled in it too – he was, after all, a monster."_

" _The next morning, once again in his human form, Elijah panicked. Over thirty men dead – what was he to do?"_

" _He eventually came up with a plan – one worthy of your mother, the late Queen Athena, though I mean no offence to her, none at all."_

" _He threw each of his murdered workers bodies into his large kiln, and once the flames had reduced them to nothing but bones, he threw the bones into his clay grinder."_

_The princess made a horrified sound._

" _Yes, princess," Adelie said, her brush stroke slowing. "He turned those men into plates and saucers, teapots and cream jugs. Then he sold them, and they truly were the best bone china that had ever been seen in Olympia. He sent packages of them to the grieving families of his 'missing' workers, acting the part of the concerned employer – but what kind of monster makes a heartbroken mother or wife eat off of the bones of her dead child or spouse?"_

" _A few months later, what he had done was discovered – a group of Guardians were investigating after reports were made that howling came from the factory on full-moon nights. They found bones in the kiln, and bones dust in the grinder."_

" _A wolf was beheaded with a silver sword, and at dawn, it melted back into the form of one mister Elijah Woods."_

" _And from that moment, everyone in the kingdom knew to trust nobody. Your friends, neighbours, spouse – they could all hold the curse of blood and moonlight."_

_Adelie turned the princesses' face towards her. "They are monsters of the first and highest order, Filia," she said. "And you are the one destined to kill them all."_

**PRESENT DAY OLYMPIA** _A small town by the name of Fenn_

Thalia Grace awakened with a gasp.

A half-a-dozen faces turned towards her questioningly, but she waved away their concern.

_It's just a dream,_ she scolded herself. _And dreams aren't real._

"You okay?"

If it had been anyone else, Thalia would have shifted and buried her teeth into their carotid quicker than they could say, ' _oh, never mind_ ', but when it was Percy, Thalia never _did_ mind.

After all, not only was he her cousin, she owed him her life.

"Fine," she answered him, trying to let the truth shine out through her blue eyes, which never worked. Percy was practically psychic – though, she supposed, that was a useful trait for someone who was being groomed to take over as alpha of the Fenn pack.

Percy scowled at her, obviously hearing the lie in her voice, but was so distracted by something he chose not to comment on it. "We've got a problem," he informed her, his eyes darkening, jaw tensing as he worked it.

Unconsciously, Thalia felt herself react to the tension in the air – and behind her, felt others react in much the same way.

_Pack. Protect._

"A royal party is heading our way," he growled out, wolf and man colliding in his voice. The adrenalin flooding through the group was affecting him largely as well.

Gasps echoed throughout the entire village, the heightened hearing of the species meaning that almost everyone heard.

Thalia's head swam. Snatches of thoughts unfinished flew through her head at the speed of light – _we need to run – how did they find us – pack – protect._ "We need to leave," she whispered, feeling sadness drain into her marrow. Fenn was the only home she had ever known – its residents had taken her in once her brother had been taken by the royal guard, after her mother had sunk lower than low, once she had been attacked by the rabid May Castellan. Besides, they were the _Fenn_ pack. Leaving negated the plausibility of that name. "They'll kill us all if we stay."

Percy shook his head, teeth grinding as he clenched his jaw in denial. " _Nobody_ is dying," he snarled. "I'm not letting that blue-blooded little bitch and her posse of idiots tear my family apart."

"But if they've found us out –"

"It's just a royal tour – complete procedure. Princess Annabeth's last chance to see the kingdom before joining the ranks of the Hunt."

Thalia relaxed slightly. "So what do we do?"

"What I need you to do, Thalia, is take the ones too young to control their wolves and hide them in the tunnels." Percy's tone was serious, and his green eyes were dark.

Thalia simply nodded and awaited more orders.

_Outside the small town of Fenn, the royal carriage_

Annabeth fingered the small silver blade attached to her ankle.

One of the Guardians who had been assigned to her personally – Jason, wasn't that his name? – smiled at her reassuringly.

It stretched the small scar above his lip grotesquely . "All will be well, princess," he said amiably.

"If that is your opinion, you are entitled to it, certainly," Annabeth muttered under her breath. Jason's smile faltered.

"Beg pardon, milady? If I have offended you somehow –"

"Your very presence offends her." Annabeth's best – _only_ – friend leant around the High Princess and glared murderously at the young Hunter. "Take your person somewhere else, _immediately_."

Instead of meekly bowing, like Annabeth expected him too, like most people did in the face of Lady Piper Mclean, Jason winked and said, "Your wish, m'lady, is my command."

Flustered, Piper leant away from the window. Jason laughed as he rode back up to the procession at the front of the carriage.

"You were flirting with him," Annabeth observed once she was sure Jason was well out of earshot.

Piper shrugged. "He was cute. How far to this Fin town, anyway?"

"Not much longer – we should be there by noon. And it's Fenn, not _Fin_."

"I can't wait till we're there – much longer in this carriage and the Guardians _will_ have a bloodthirsty beast to deal with – _me._ "

_The small town of Fenn, the house of Red_

Percy's face was crinkled in worry. "Well, Red?" he asked softly of one of his oldest friends – in fact, the friend the entire village expected to be his mate, his Luna. "Tell me what you see."

Rachel Elizabeth Dare was a very special Lupi – bitten, not born, like most of those who resided in the Fenn pack, she was Oracle before wolf, before anything else.

Which meant she could see the future. Only snippets, though – unless someone asked her directly for a prophecy, which was almost unheard of in this day and age.

"I'm sorry, Perce," She whispered, wishing she could give the Wolven in front of her – a prince in his own right – better news. "Bloodshed, no matter where I look. No matter which path I try to lead the future down. Bloodshed, everywhere. I can't say when, can't say where, why, how, or who, but it's coming. It's as unavoidable as death, which, as you know, comes eventually for all men."

Percy bowed his head. "Warn your family. Prepare to fight your way out if things get ugly. Don't worry about anyone else, just get yourselves out."

Rachel's inner wolf balked at this. _Pack should stick together_ , it insisted. _Running like cowards with tail between legs while rest of pack fight is not our way_.

As if he could read her mind, Percy sent a sharp look in her direction that clearly meant one thing, and one thing only – _this is an order_.

Percy, as future alpha, had certain advantages over the other wolven – like, the power to command obedience, for instance.

Rachel inclined her head slightly. "Yes," she murmured.

A horn trumpeted in the distance.

Percy tensed. "They're here."

_The small town of Fenn, town square_

Annabeth's breath was coming fast. She felt as if she was hyperventilating.

Peeking out of the gaps in the carriage windows, which she had drawn about a mile back, she saw a crowd of about fifty gathered – the townspeople? Standing in the space between the royal party and the people of Fenn, which she dubbed no-man's-land, was the messenger they had sent ahead of them, to alert the town of their coming.

He was dressed in the fine grey silk and silver filigree of royal livery, and was proudly brandishing an extensive scroll, from which he was reading. Once Annabeth caught the gist of what he was saying, she groaned and fell back against her seat, burying her face in her hands.

Frowning slightly at her friend, Piper leant forward. _Gracious...beautiful...chosen..._ she snorted. "Holy _hell_ , Annabeth, is he reading your titles, or practicing your epitaph?"

Annabeth flung an arm out and struck Piper hard across the stomach.

"Bitch," the other girl said.

A trumpet sounded in a complicated string of notes that sounded more like the garbled noises of dying cats than an actual tune to both girls. "I think that's our cue," Piper crinkled her nose. "How tasteful."

In a single, smooth motion, she flung open the carriage doors, and stepped into the sun light, clearly expecting Annabeth to follow.

_...A girl with curls the colour of golden wheat was sobbing, horrible, ugly sobbing, as she leant over the body of another girl – a girl with dark skin, hair done up in thin, flexible braids._

" _Please!" she sobbed out. "Please, someone, help!"_

" _This is your punishment,_ Filia _," the voice sneered her name out; putting a hateful twist on the pet-name her subjects had chosen for her, their 'chosen, prophesied' saviour._

' _Princess of Angels'_

_Still sobbing, Annabeth looked at the source of the voice._

_His furiously burning green eyes drilled into her silvery grey ones. "You killed my loved one, now I'll kill yours," he growled out in a double voice, man and beast mingling as one. "A throat for a throat, princess."_

_Annabeth screamed as a midnight black wolf lunged at Piper's throat..._


	4. Chapter Three: Hatred, Sympathy & Other Justified Emotions

_There once lived a woman called May Castellan._

_May lived in a town just outside the skirts of the capital, in a rundown manor house._

_She used to have a son, but he's gone now, gone far away - he ran from his mother when he was still only a child._

_'He's dead,' most whisper, when they pause to think of the crazy recluse at all._

_They shun May, and avoid her at all costs, as if the curse of blood and moonlight ran in her veins._

_It didn't, of course - once her child had gone missing, all the usual tests had been placed upon her, and she had passed them all with human colours._

_But the curse still had a hold on the poor woman, and it is a bond she will never break free from_.

-X-

"Two silver pieces, I'll go no higher," a blonde, tall man told the butcher in front of him.

The butcher considered the cut of meat in front of him. It was large, yes, but riddled with gristle, bone, and marble veins of fat. Two coins of silver was a fair deal.

"I'll take you up on that," he informed the young traveller in front of him, holding out his hand for payment.

The blonde smiled tightly. It stretched the scar across his face grotesquely. "Wrap my purchase first," he said in a voice soft and silky and deadly.

The butcher did as his paying customer asked jovially - pulling sheets of brown paper and lengths of twine from a box underneath the table that was his market stall.

"Here you go, sir," he said as he handed off the beef in exchange for two coins of silver. "Merry part."

The boy inclined his head. "And to you."

He walked away as fast as possible while still seeming casual, just wanting to get out of sight of the butchers stall.

"Those coins – they were fake," the voice came from behind him. "You ran a con without me; I'm hurt."

Luke turned to face the pale blue eyes and auburn hair of Tamsin Rinaldi. He raised an eyebrow at her. "How do you know they were fake?"

She just looked at him. "Well, for one, your skin wasn't melting off because of them."

Luke made a sudden jerking motion with his neck, and a hiss wormed its way out his mouth. "Shut up, are you _trying_ to get us killed?"

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "No Guardians, Hunters or Slayers for at least two inns, I checked."

"Is there a reason you left camp?" He asked her tightly.

"The royal party approaches Fenn," she replied in a formal tone. "I thought you'd want to know."

 _Fenn_...that was a small rural town populated mostly by Lupi. "And this interests me why?"

Tamsin's eyes widened in mock surprise as a deeply malicious glint sparked to life in her eyes. "I thought you knew, Luke," she said with mirth. "Your former betrothed, Thalia - she resides in the village of Fenn."

-X-

Percy tried his hardest to ignore his wolf.

It was almost as if there were two people fighting for dominance of his body - normally, he and his inner beast were so in harmony with each other that they were one and the same.

Not today.

Today, the wolf wanted to leap at the princess that was regally sitting in the carriage, wanted _riptearbloodcarnageslaughter_ ; and the human wanted to be logical.

Thalia, who now stood next to him after slipping her way through the crowd, sent him a worried glance and slipped her hand into his, giving it a reassuring squeeze before relinquishing it back to him once again.

This helped to calm him the slightest bit - wolves were very big on physical communication.

Percy took a breath, and steeled himself.

The first girl out of the carriage was of exotic looking descent, but that was not what sent off murmurs and fearful, outraged looks among the community. No, what did that was the blue feather woven into one of her intricate side braids - the sign of a sympathizer, someone who believed not all Lupi were monsters and should feel free to live among others with equal rights.

Percy had been so distracted by this mark of status that he'd forgotten the carriage held two people, but as the second person stepped out, graceful as a duck on water, he snapped back to attention.

At any moment - the slightest brush of silver against skin - this could deteriorate into a fight till the death. He had to remain alert.

The princess’s feet touched ground and stayed there.

Around Percy, people began to kneel.

His teeth snapped together with an audible clack as his jaw clenched.

Oh, _hell_ no. He should've expected it - Annabeth Chase was royalty, unfortunately - but he was no simple minded subject. Half his family was dead because of the blue-blooded little snit. He would not bow to her.

But his mother, the Luna of his pack, shot him a sideways look that made his wolf whine and keel over in submission, and quelled any rebellious thoughts in his mind.

Swallowing back acid - humility was a bitter, burning medicine - Percy sank to his knees, only a fraction of a second later than everyone else.

His mother nodded approvingly.

"Greetings," the voice of Regina Annabeth rang out over the kneeling crowd in rich, dulcet tones.

-X-

Next to her, Piper snorted.

Ignoring her, Annabeth continued. "It is a pleasure to make all of your acquaintances. Please, rise - and go back to whatever it is you were doing before; I do not wish to disturb anyone."

Slowly, the crowd dispersed. Eventually, only a select few remained - two adults, a married couple; the town leaders, maybe? - and two kids around her age, a boy and a girl, both dark haired.

The boy seemed to be protesting adamantly about his remaining there, and the adults exchanged exasperated looks while the girl stood next to the boy, serenely going along with what he said.

"Excuse me?" Piper called out.

The dark haired boys eyes snapped in their direction, and Annabeth had to suppress a shiver.

She could see their colour, even from here - a deep, emerald green - but what really affected her was the menace that radiated off of him in buffeting waves.

Their eyes met, and only one thought was on Annabeth's mind.

 _If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under_.

-X-

_The knife was shoved in with jarring force._

_Stabbing someone was a strange feeling, she mused. Like trying to poke a stick into an under ripe and hard tomato - the skin resists at first, surface tension and whatnot, before finally giving way in a spectacular rush of surprise and disgust; blood and other bodily fluids rushing out and soaking her fingers as they dug into the flesh and inside; trying to push the knife further and deeper in, making sure the damage was irreparable._

_Eyes - haunted and wounded - met hers._

_"Why?" He choked out through mouthfuls of blood and some alkaline liquid._

_She watched the shuddering blade impaled in his gut with great fascination, and shrugged. "Because."_

_His breath rasped - wet and thick; a death rattle. His eyes met hers one last time. "I trusted you." A bitter laugh. "Should've known better, huh, Tamsin?"_

_Tamsin smiled prettily. "You trust far too easily, Luke," she confided. "You never stopped to consider which side I fought for, did you? I was Lupi, and that was enough." She shook her head at him mockingly. "Silly boy."_

_With a great, hacking cough, Luke's lungs gave in_.


	5. Chapter Four: Of Hunters & Wolves

_In the first years of the plague known as the curse of blood and moonlight, countless men - and women, and children - died._

_The people were panicking, blood-born fear of the unknown kicking in and driving them to extreme lengths._

_No one left their houses after sundown. The night belonged to the wolves, and if they caught you out there, you were free game. People started killing each other, neighbour against neighbour; mothers started drowning their children at bath times._

_'_ Better to die peaceful than bloody _,' was the motto of those days._

_The country could only live with this paranoia and fear running rampant for so long. Eventually, Olympia fell to wrack and ruin, just as Nikoloas and Jocelyn given birth to their third and last child; a beautiful boy by the name of Remus._

_They had named him this in hope of appeasing the wolf queen's anger._

_If anything, it served only to stoke an already raging fire._

_The attacks grew more frequent; not just on full moon nights anymore. They were focused on the capital, Athens, and more directly, the palace._

_For inside those marble and sandstone walls, the young prince lay. If they could kill him, the prophesied princess would never be born. The royal bloodline of Olympia would die out, and the Lupi would but forever. The land would be theirs._

_The plan didn't quite work out that way._

_The palace, after all, was a fortress. It would take an army of men with battering rams to break in; and no wolf was willing to reveal his or her human form._

_But the Lupi had patience, and preternatural gifts. They were stronger and faster than the palace guards - even the females._

_When they finally managed to breach the palace gates, howls of jubilation could be heard all over the kingdom. Such was their happiness; their bloodlust grew to incredible levels as they tore their way through legions of guards._

_It was complete and utter decimation._

_But when the leaders made their way into the nursery, Prince Remus and his parents were long gone._

_They'd come back, years later, surrounded by well-trained men wielding weapons of lethal silver._

_And thus was born the Guild of Hunters, Guardians of the kingdom_.

-X-

Piper knew the truth about what Fenn was.

As she made her way over to the group of villagers huddled together she tried to calm her racing heart.

 _They're not monsters_ , she told herself sternly _. They're not going to eat you, and even if they were inclined to slaughter the entire royal party, you're safe_.

 _Yes_ , she thought, raising a delicate hand to stroke the royal blue feather that marked her as a sympathizer _. I'm safe_.

Her family had long been sympathizers. It had started generations ago, with her great-great-great grandparents on her mother’s side.

Forget theatre - this was her bloodlines legacy.

The green eyes of the handsome younger man followed her hand's movement. It was clear in his eyes he knew what the feather meant.

Just as clear was his hate. Not for Piper - his flippant mannerisms as he took her in before transferring his attention to Annabeth seemed to state he couldn't care less about her - but for Annabeth. Which was fair, she supposed. Her friend had killed very many Lupi in her time, and not all were Dark. How many of them had he known?

Annabeth flinched backwards slightly; a wounded and fearful look on her face as her lips parted in shock.

"Relax," Piper whispered, even though she knew that all four of the wolves gathered could more than likely hear her without trouble. "He's probably just pissed about the new tax rate."

Annabeth managed to summon a small, wobbling smile.

The older man and woman there, a married couple, by the looks of it, stepped forward. The two younger ones came forward also, as if tethered to them.

The Alpha and his Luna, Piper inferred. Which made the two teenagers their heirs, she theorized.

"I'm Sally Jackson, miladies," smiled the woman as she dipped into a short curtesy. The dark haired, blue eyed girl followed her example with a scowl on her face. "This is my husband, Paul," a gesture to a tall and thickset man with regal bearing and greying hair, "my niece, Thalia," who smiled like something dead had been shoved under her nose, "and my son - "

"Percy," green eyes interrupted, his gaze, so filled with hate, never once leaving Annabeth. Piper felt a shiver of foreboding run down the length of her spine. "My name is Percy." As he spoke, he tilted his head to one side in a canine way, pride and defiance radiating from him. "Don't expect me to bow to you," he told the princess seriously.

Gasps were heard all around. His cousin paled to a colour akin to milk; his father stiffened, eyes darkening with topaz; his mother's hand flew up to her neck, where she clutched at her pearls. Various people around the town square whom had gone back to their everyday tasks froze, revealing who was Lupi and who wasn't.

Worse by far, however, was the reaction of the Guardians.

Jason snarled, and raised his lance into a ready position. Around him, the rest of the men did the same.

The silver tips of the weapons gleamed wickedly in the noonday sun, but Percy simply tilted his head back, and spread his arms open languidly - an invitation, if Piper had ever seen one.

His eyes darkened with battle-lust.

"Stop!" Piper implored Jason, throwing all of her acting skills into her voice, attempting to make it as sweet and alluring as possible. "He's just a village simpleton, he's not worth it!"

She made her eyes open wide, earnestly.

Jason seemed to hesitate, but he finally nodded and barked out something to the other Guardians, who, with much grumbling, lowered their weapons.

"Okay," Sally said, surveying the group gathered with a certain amount of justified nervousness. "Princess," she addressed Annabeth. "I'm sure Percy here would love to give you a tour."

Percy gave his mother a look. She shrugged innocently in a ' _what_?' way.

Annabeth seemed uncertain. "Are you _quite_ sure - "

Paul stepped in then, speaking for the first time. "Perseus _will_ behave." It was not a question, or an assumption. Nor was it a guarantee.

It was an order, and Percy clearly didn't like it.

But he bowed his head in acquiescence. "Yes, sir," he murmured soberly. He then turned to Annabeth and held his arm out - a clear invitation; though it seemed to cause him agonizing pain, it appeared Percy would be a gentleman.

Thalia turned to Piper with a resigned sigh. "Guess that leaves us together."

-X-

_Heat flared up her body as she arched her spine, pressing herself harder against him._

_His hands held her gently but firmly, running up her calves, under her skirt, twisting in layers of petticoats._

_"You're beautiful," he whispered huskily as he pressed feather light kisses up and down her neck; into the hollow of her throat, her chin._

_Her eyes rolled into the back of her head slightly as he started walking forwards; her back hit a beam of timber - one of the stable stalls._

_Their lips finally met, and it was perfect. Time froze, and it was as if no one else existed._

_A crashing noise came from beside her, intruding on her beautifully foggy state of mind. He pulled away from her, and her body cried out from the loss._

_He ran a hand through his dark hair, which was already incredibly messy because she had been running her hands through it._

_He smiled sheepishly at his cousin, who was standing, mortified, in the centre of a milk puddle - she must've dropped the bucket; that's what made the noise._

_Her blue eyes flickered from her cousin, who was awkwardly shift in his weight from foot to foot, and whose shirt was partially undone; to the flustered princess who was frantically trying to compose herself._

_"My eyes," Thalia whispered. "My god, my eyes._ "


	6. Chapter Five: Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The point of moving this story to AO3 was to eliminate the notes I had written on the ff.net rough version. But this chapter is different. It is, quite literally, the singlemost darkest and f-ed up thing I have ever written. Nothing is really graphically described, but it is made clear in the chapter just what is going on.
> 
> So, here is you trigger warning: this chapter contains rape, incest, unwilling prostitution, forced and violent abortions, abuse, suicide, genocide, patricide and thoughts/discussions on aforementioned subjects. If any of those will be a trigger for you, PLEASE skip over this chapter. It establishes backstory for a particularly important OC but is by no means NECESSARY to read for the main story. 
> 
> Also, please note that the opinions on several subjects within this chapter expressed by the characters (in regards to suicide, particularly) are in no way my personal opinions on the matter and should not be construed as such.
> 
> Thank you, and one last time, if you think that anything in this chapter will trigger you, please SKIP.

"Pl - ple - _please_ \- "

With a sharp sound, metal gauntlet made contact with delicate skin.

Red bloomed across the girls cheeks as blood rushed to the point of contact. Her head snapped back, and she would have fallen into the dirt if not for the fact that the man had a firm grip on her waist.

One of his friends came up behind her, pressing hard into her back. She stumbled forwards, and her blood turned to ice as she realised she was now trapped between two very drunk, very large men.

"Father, _please_ ," she pleaded of the man in front of her, slapping his hands away as they crept under her skirt.

He hit her again. "Hold the bitch down," he said to the man behind her.

Through her daze, she felt her arms being dragged above her head and secured; her skirt being torn open as cool night air hit her legs.

She struggled; it only excited him more.

"Tamsin," he groaned, as an intense pain grew within her stomach. "You look so like your mother."

-X-

Stinging pain and warm wetness travelled down her arm; from the crease of her elbow to her wrist.

She stared at the broken bottle - its jagged edges and sharp points - with as much cool detachment as she could muster; as her father used it to tear open the flesh of her arms.

She no longer had much sensation in the left one; she couldn't feel her right at all.

-X-

More girls were locked in the barn with her every night. And the more girls that came, the more men that came looking for fun.

Tamsin was never touched by any men except her father - she must of been declared off limits - but she fell asleep each night to the sounds of their screams.

-X-

"You stupid, _stupid_ , bitch," her father hissed out, punctuating each word with a hard blow to her swollen abdomen. "How _dare_ you get pregnant?"

 _I didn't ask for this_ , she tried to say, but all that came out was blood.

Her father continued his abuse of her stomach, even after she had slipped into unconsciousness.

-X-

Tamsin stared with dead eyes at the wall across from her as the blonde doctor prodded her midsection with gentle fingers. "What happened to you?" His voice was understanding.

"I fell," she lied flatly. Not caring if he believed her. Not caring much about anything, anymore.

His eyes were shrewd. "You've had a miscarriage," he informed her.

Tamsin didn't react; her father flying into a feigned rage.

Later, she sobbed into her fists. And her father opened himself a bottle of scotch; congratulations for a job well done.

-X-

One of the other girls - Jaquelyn - she'd killed herself.

Tamsin stood over the broken, frail body, her eyes tracing the numerous deep cuts crisscrossing the crease of her elbow.

 _People who want to be saved cut their wrists_ , Tamsin had once been told. _They bleed out slowly, so they have time to be found._

 _People who truly want to die? They cut higher, and deeper - there's no saving them then_.

Tamsin considered Jaquelyn's nearly severed arm.

She felt no sympathy. Suicide was a coward’s way out.

-X-

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Tamsin blinked sleep out of her eyes as she pushed herself into a sitting position. She was laying on a pile of hay far away from the rest of the girls - none of them wanted to be near her; they were far too scared of her father.

The tapping, scratching noise was coming from a peeling panel on the far wall.

Tamsin crawled over to it. With minimum effort, she yanked it off the wall.

A great golden wolf stood there, blinking at her with intelligence filled eyes.

Human eyes.

She swallowed a scream when the light of the full moon hit her eyes.

Oh, _god_. She was going to die.

But, she supposed, as muscles rippled under thick pelt, maybe death wouldn't be so bad.

She welcomed the wolf's fatal embrace with open arms.

-X-

To say she was surprised when her eyes opened was an understatement.

Wasn't she supposed to be dead?

A low chuckle caught her attention.

She jerked upwards, and was astonished at how easy the movement felt. No pain, nothing.

She ripped the bodice of her dress open, and gasped as she saw smooth, perfect skin.

"Fast healing is a benefit of the bite," a voice said.

Tamsin's head jerked in its direction.

The blonde doctor her father had dragged home to look at her injuries smiled at her in a feral way. He looked remarkably less civilized - less human - than he had on that day.

Part of her felt like lunging for his throat, but another part soothed it - a part that insisted _sire, alpha_.

She lowered her gaze demurely, on instinct.

Blonde hair made a noise of approval. "Good girl. Submission is good. You're at the bottom of the food chain now - it's the only way you'll survive."

She risked a glance at him. He looked at her with eyes of yellow.

"Hello, Tamsin," his voice was musical. "I am Lucian." He tilted his head and considered her. "Are you enjoying your new gift?"

A flash of unrecognisable emotion ran through her.

Gift? _Gift?_ She would be outcast - _hunted_ \- a monster.

But she would have power. She would be stronger than any human male - stronger than her father.

Lucian cupped her cheek and smiled at her. "No man will ever touch you without your permission again," he informed her. "In our society, among our kind, females are precious. Cherished. You will be treated as a princess."

Tamsin managed to clear her throat enough to speak. "My father?"

Lucian rose gratefully. "Yours to do with as you please. When you are done, find me waiting at the outskirts of town."

He left, leaving Tamsin lying on the ground, a song singing in her blood.

A song of revenge.

-X-

Tamsin licked thick arterial blood from a man's aorta from her lips - her human lips; she'd shifted back.

He was still alive underneath her. Gasping and choking and drowning in his own blood, but alive.

Tamsin drove clawed fingers into his temples, squeezing with her newly gained preternatural strength until his head cracked open like an egg and his brain spilled out.

"This is my vengeance, father," she whispered as she rose.

Around her lay carnage. Over thirty dead men, maybe an equal amount of women. Tamsin stood among their bloody, wasted corpses, and laughed.


	7. Chapter Six: Argentum Nocte

Thalia pitied herself, sure, but not as much as she pitied her cousin.

_Sorry, Perce_ , she tried to communicate to him using body language. If he understood her, he showed no sign of it.

His jaw was clenched so tight his bones threatened to break through skin. Gold and black swirled amid the verdurous green of his irises.

His wolf was fighting him for control of his body.

She winced in sympathy. She'd experienced that herself once or twice before, and the inner turmoil - the pounding headaches and the feeling of absolute disharmony - it was enough to drive one mad.

Percy was strong and smart; he'd be able to stay in control and dominate his animal side. Thalia just hoped the princess wasn't expecting him to talk on their little tour.

The sympathizer girl - _Piper_ \- tapped Thalia on the forearm with a gentle, barely-there touch.

Thalia suppressed a snort. This girl had spirit, sure; she'd proven that by stopping the guards from attacking her hot-headed cousin - but she was weak.

"Are you taking me on this tour, or what?"

Thalia nodded her affirmative. "Walk with me, sympathizer," she said.

Piper winced and cast a furtive look in the direction of the guardians.

"Relax, sympathizer," Thalia told her. "I'm not stupid; they can't hear us."

Piper screwed up her face. "I have a name, you know."

"I'm sure you do," Thalia said calmly "I'm also sure that you have about a thousand titles to go with it. What are you? A Lady, a Duchess, a Countess?"

Her derisive tone seemed to raise Piper's hackles. "Lady Piper McLean, of the Tenth Noble House of Olympia," she answered in a steely tone.

"A pretentious, rich snob," Thalia corrected, "who thinks she is better than most people, but especially my kind of people, because we're ' _half-animal_ '."

Piper pouted slightly in a hurt way. "I never said that."

The blue-eyed wolf girl shrugged in a careless way. "All sympathizers - whether or not they are of noble birth - think in the same way. They don't seek equality for the Lupi, for all their claims. They seek recognition that they are better by lording it over us."

Piper winced then sighed. "How about you just give me that tour now?" She suggested, extending an olive branch.

Thalia tilted her head. "Sure," she nodded. "I think I'll take you to the place most people go this time of day."

She grinned at the noble, letting her wolf side shine through for just a second - flashing fang and blinking golden eyes balefully.

Her grin widened as her Other side sensed the fear coming off of Piper in palpable waves.

-X-

Piper was not going to scream. She was not going to run.

Most importantly of all, she was not going to ask a guardian to accompany her to wherever it was Thalia was taking her.

As she watched, the green-eyed, handsome one led Annabeth in the opposite direction of her and Thalia - to the stables, from the looks of it.

She snorted. Typical. Annabeth and her horses.

Thalia's gaze followed hers. "Percy likes horses," she said. "He has a certain...affinity, for them."

So, his name was Percy. And he and Annabeth apparently had something in common.

Maybe they would get along.

Then again, she supposed, as Annabeth yanked her arms from Percy's and began gesticulating wildly at him. Maybe not.

"Are you coming, or not?" Thalia was impatient, her aquiline features pinched.

"Yeah," Piper said. "I'm just wondering which one of them will succeed in killing the other first."

The glance Thalia sent Percy and Annabeth's way was perfunctory. "Ten pieces of gold on the bitch," she said casually, eyes glinting with malevolence.

Piper felt her shoulders tighten at the slur against her friend, but forced no other reaction to show. "Shouldn't you be betting on your cousin's side?"

Thalia snorted and began making her way down one of the streets of hard pressed dirt - no marble here, not like Athens - and answered with. "Percy isn't stupid. If he kills the princess, we all die. He's enough of a self-sacrificing martyr that he won't risk us."

Piper didn't pretend not to notice Thalia's use of the archaic 'royal we'.

"Packs are connected," Thalia answered her unspoken question. "We're closer than most people ever dream of. It sometimes reflects in our actions and words." She paused and turned back to Piper. "We're here."

Piper looked at the building they had stopped in front of. It was made of roughly hewn stone and timbers. She walked forwards and pushed the plain door open.

It was lighter than it looked. It swung into the stone wall with an ear splitting bang.

"Careful!" Thalia chastised her. "That door is mahogany!"

Piper raised both shoulders in a ' _sorry_ ' sort of way. Before stepping into the dimly lit tavern, from which thick wood smoke and warmth was buffeting, she craned her neck up to get a good look at the sign.

_Silver Midnight_ , it read in Latin - _Argentum Nocte_.

"Don't let the name fool you," Thalia's voice was filled with mirth. "It doesn't stay open past ten, and you won't find a single molecule of silver matter inside. We can't risk discovery if the publicans come rolling into town." She gestured inside. "Are you coming in? Meridie will be pissed if we keep the door open."

As if on cue, a loud, brassy voice bellowed from inside: "Shut the damn door, you eejits!"

Piper stepped in quickly. As Thalia came entered as well and closed the door behind them, Piper turned to face those that sat in the Inn.

Every iris in the room flickered with golden light as they took in the blue feather braided into her hair.

Piper gulped. Her muscles tensed in preparation to bolt.

Thalia snorted from behind her, and gave her what was probably supposed to be a gentle shove forward.

"Be nice to the sympathizer, guys," she said, as Piper rubbed her now aching back. "She's on _'our side_.'" Sarcastic finger quotes for the last two words.

Attempting to break the ice slightly, Piper waved. "Hi," she said.

A younger girl, around fifteen, with blonde hair and green eyes - she wore an apron; she must've been a barmaid - steppe out from the shadows of two identical looking guys.

They hissed and tried to pull her back behind them, but she shook them off. The three of them stared at Piper - the menace of the men and the curiosity of the girl rolling off in waves - with wide eyes.

"So you're really a sympathizer?" The girl's eyes traced over the blue feather. "I've never seen one before." The tone of her voice suggested that seeing Piper in the flesh was the equivalent of seeing a unicorn.

"We don't normally flash the feather in public," she said. "But I thought your town special."

The atmosphere warmed almost instantly.

A dark skinned woman from behind the bar grinned at her. Silver chains wrapped around her throat glinted in the candlelight. "I'm Meridie," she said in the same brassy voice that had berated Piper and Thalia earlier. "Welcome to Fenn."

"So, Meridie," Piper began, as around her the noise started up again; as people went back to whatever they were doing before she walked in. "How are you wearing silver?"

Meridie sighed and rolled her eyes. Piper got the feeling that strangers that came to Fenn - strangers _'in the know_ ,' that is - asked this question of her quite frequently.

The publican gestured at a battered stool in front of her.

Piper glanced to the side to check if this was okay with Thalia (which grated on her nerves, she wasn't a damn pet), but saw that the blue eyed wolf-girl was gone - talking to the waitress from before.

So, she sat. "Well?" She asked eagerly.

Meridie raised an eyebrow at her and paused in her washing of a large jug that seemed to have once been filled with rum. "Why do you think, you eejit?" She asked.

Piper shrugged. "I don't know. Were you born special, or immune - "

She broke off as Meridie started to shake with laughter.

"What?" She said, disgruntled.

"Immune," Meridie gasped out. "My gods, girl, we should keep you around. Good value, you are."

Piper glanced over her shoulder at Thalia, at a complete loss.

Thalia quirked a brow at her, like _what the bloody blue hell have you done to Meridie_?

She turned back to face the barmaid and clasped her hands genteelly, waiting for Meridie to compose herself.

" _Immune_ ," she finally muttered again in a thick brogue. "By the gods, girl, have your parents taught you nothing? I'm a scion."

Piper frowned. "A what, now?"

Meridie grinned. "Basically a sympathizer, only more intense. I've gone...native, I guess."

Before Piper had a chance to react to this, a great uproar went off just outside the Argentum Nocte.

-X-

Annabeth was flushed and breathless, her chest heaving, once she had finished yelling.

Infuriatingly, the green eyed jerk - _Percy_ \- just stood there, completely cool and collected, and not looking cowed in the least.

"If you're quite done with your childish tantrum," he drawled as he turned his back on her and continued to walk in the way they had been heading with long, loping strides, "the stables are over here. Fenn has bred some of the fastest horses in Olympia. We have stellar bloodlines, you see; our horses are mixed breeds, but the mixes are good. I think they get their speed from some Arab, but I can't be sure. The shape of their muzzle, however, suggests I may be right - "

" _Stop_ ," Annabeth said. "Shut up. What do you think you're doing?"

He turned his body to face her, a look of polite bafflement on his face. "I think I'm making polite conversation in a civilized manner, majesty," he said.

Somehow, the way he spoke her title made her feel dirty, like she had just been called a slut in front if the entire royal court.

"Yes - that - not what I meant," she spluttered. "You can't insult my father like that and then expect me _not_ to comment."

He turned his back to her once again, and resumed walking. Annabeth hurried to follow.

"Of course I can expect no such thing," Annabeth wasn't one hundred percent sure - she couldn't see his face - but she though he may have been smiling. "Please, do comment away."

The incensed princess huffed. "My father is a good man, and his laws are just."

"Your father is a selfish man," Percy said in a condescending tone. He looked down at her, and while there was only an inch or two of difference in their height, Annabeth suddenly felt very small. "And his laws are not just - they are made to keep the food and gold with the nobles; to take away from his people and his land. He lives in the now, Annabeth - " she shivered slightly when he said her name, surprised that there was no menace in his voice - only some sort of desperate _need_ for her to understand. " - he's not thinking of the future; of the generations that are to come." His eyes darkened with what looked like an animalistic sort of rage. "He isn't a good king, princess."

Annabeth bit her tongue to keep down all the burning remarks she wanted to dish out. He was entitled to his own opinion, certainly - and he'd already proven he wasn't exactly the brightest star in the sky.

_Just because he said it, it doesn't make it true_ , she reminded herself.

A beautiful building appeared, dragging her out of her thoughts with an almost magnetic pull.

It was a simple stable, built in the same, common design that the majority of barns were built in.

The wood, however, transformed it into a work of art. It was golden in colour, with no visible knots that Annabeth could see. The grain was fine, very fine; and the varnish had been done exquisitely well - no moisture had warped the panels of these walls.

She was so entranced with taking in every inch of the stables she barely noticed when Percy sighed in annoyance and gently guided her in, with a hand on the small of her back.

Inside, the smell of hay and horses greeted her. It was warm in the stables, and sunlight dappled the ground and walls - coming in from cracks between each panel.

Some horses poked their heads over stall doors and took her in with curious gazes. After they had taken her in, they all turned to look at Percy with what she translated to be ' _who the hell is this_?' In their expressions.

She turned to face Percy, as well.

His expression was soft as he took in the fillies and colts; the mares and the stallions. All the tension that had surrounded him from the moment she had spoken to him had vanished. His eyes were half closed, and he swayed slightly.

He was completely at ease - his guard completely down.

_He's beautiful_.

Annabeth jerked. The hell had that thought come from?

It was true, though. With the hateful snarl gone, and the aura of vulnerability that now surrounded him, he was beautiful. He was beautiful like the tapestries depicted the gods to be beautiful - all full lips and long lashes and defined cheekbones.

The two, who had been so hostile towards one another only minutes before, fell into companionable silence.

That was when all hell broke loose.

Instinctively, Thalia's body braced for a shift.

Katie's hand slammed down into her trembling forearm. With eyes wide, she shook her head infinitesimally.

Her message was clear; _shift, and I'll kill you with my plants._

Swallowing hard, Thalia managed to get herself under control.

Her responsibilities coming to her attention, she looked around for Piper.

Oh, _god_. The idiot was heading for the door.

"Are you stupid?" Thalia hissed into the nobles ear as she flitted to her side using her preternatural speed. "When you hear the sounds of a fight, you don't go near it - especially _not_ in Fenn!"

Piper's kaleidoscope eyes were bright with fear. She flinched as a particularly loud bellow of pain came from outside.

Thalia tried to communicate mentally with her. _Be glad you don't have my senses_ , she thought. _Be glad you can't smell the blood, can't hear the sounds of splintering bone and blades entering flesh_.

"What..." Piper swallowed. "What is it?"

Thalia glanced towards the door. Her eyes flickered with gold. " _Damnatorum_ ," she hissed.

Piper blanched. "Dark wolves?"

Thalia nodded. "Meridie!" She called out. The scion still stood behind her bar, but she held a sword in her hand - a wickedly curved blade with a broad end and a handle that was fashioned of silver. Her dark skin gleamed with sweat, but she looked ready to kick some ass. Her eyes locked with Thalia's, and an understanding passed between them.

"I'll take the noble to sanctuary," he said. "You deal with my pub."

Thalia opened her mouth to protest, but Meridie quelled her with a single look. "It is not your place to deal with this Dark one," she said sternly. "Leave that to your Alpha."

Paul. Right, he was the one who dealt with Damnatorum that wandered into Fenn.

Only, the royal guard were here. He couldn't just _shift_.

As Meridie led Piper out through a well-hidden back entrance, sword raised and at the ready, as Katie ran around the tavern extinguishing all lanterns and candles; Thalia leant towards a window ever so slightly, and peeked out.

Her heart nearly leaped into her throat.

A full platoon of Guardians had gathered in the street outside of the Argentum Nocte. On the outskirts of their circle lay the body of a straggly wolf, with his throat torn out, slowly melting back into human form.

It's throat had clearly been ripped open by teeth.

In the centre of the circle, lashed down by dainty chains, was Paul.

In wolf form.

Steam hissed upwards from his body as the chains sunk into his flesh, melting it like pure acid.

He snarled defiantly and thrashed, attempting to throw them off.

Thalia's breath caught as the guard that reminded her of her long lost little brother - _Jason_ \- raised a silver Kali sword.

As he brought the blade down, a shiver of power ran through the wolven in the room.

_A_ _transference_.

Paul's head rolled, sickeningly; away from his body.

A great cheer went up among the Guards.

A warm glow of power came over Thalia.

Percy roared in her mind, with grief, with anger. The rest of the tavern winced as their pack links shifted, changed.

Paul - _Alpha_ \- was gone. His heir needed to take his place.

For a minute, Thalia was sucked into Percy's head. She saw through his eyes, heard his thoughts.

Annabeth was in front of him, looking pale and terrified. "Your eyes," she whispered. "They're yellow."

Percy apparently ignored her. _Run_ , he spoke into Thalia's mind. _Take the pack, and run._

The words were filled with the kind of power that could not be denied - a clear order, his first as an Alpha.

The connection snapped closed.

"Run," Thalia spoke roughly. "We have to run." She turned to face the crowd in the pun. "Be prepared to kill your way out."

-X-

Annabeth backed away from the boy in front of her as he yelled in pain, clutching his head and falling to his knees.

In between this and the sound of screams and roars coming from the town, Annabeth was near her panic limit.

"Percy?" She asked, swallowing her fear. "Are you okay?"

He looked up at her, moving with inhuman quickness.

His eyes shone with gold.

Her voice died in her throat.

Oh _god._ He was _Lupi_.

And he was staring at her like he wanted her dead.

"Oh, my god," she whispered.

"Not exactly," Percy spoke in a low, growling voice as he rose with animal grace. "Though I have been told the resemblance is startling."

He took a step towards her, and she jerked backwards.

"Nuh uh," he spoke from behind her. She flinched forwards as she felt his lips at her ear, but his arms looped around her waist like steel girders and held her fast. "You're not going anywhere, princess."

Annabeth closed her eyes and held in a sob of fear. "You killed my father," he murmured. "Maybe not directly, but still, he's dead because of you, you _bitch_." He chuckled. "It's only fair of me to return the favour, am I right?"


	8. Chapter Seven: Blood & Fire

_Medea fussed over the bubbling liquid in her copper chalice._

_It was clear as water, and as she lowered a blood soaked silver pendant into it - a trident - it calmed, smoothing out like glass._

_A knock sounded on the door. She smoothed out her dress and called out to Circe. "Get the door, will you?"_

_Circe, in all her dark and exotic beauty, hurried up from the basement, untying her apron to reveal a stunning emerald chiton._

_The second sorceress rushed to the door and pulled it open; to reveal the waiting King and a Lupi._

_Sally Jackson._

_Circe felt her pupils dilate and her breath quicken as she took in the woman in front of her. "Come in, come in," she urged, ushering Sally inside with a gentle arm slung over her shoulders. Pausing, she cut her gaze to the waiting King. "Our deal is done," she said in a curt tone to Poseidon. "Don't worry, Highness - we'll keep our end of the deal."_

_Medea grinned tightly as she stepped forward and slammed the door shut in his face._

_Sally flinched. "Who are you?" She whispered._

_Circe smiled and offered her a chalice of water. "We are your tickets back home, to Olympia."_

_Medea winked._

_Filled with gratitude, Sally drank deeply of the cup._

_She didn't see how the eyes of the other two women shone with malice._

_A few hours later, they sent Sally on her way._

_A few months later, Sally was pregnant and Athena was dead._

-X-

Piper could barely breathe around her fear.

Meridie was only moving at a brisk jog, but what with her many layers of petticoats and silk skirts and delicate lace embroidery, Piper's movement was hindered greatly.

"Wait up," she panted, trying to ignore the terror that was bubbling up in her chest cavity - thick as tar, caustic as acid. "I can't run as fast as you."

Meridie's steely eyes didn't waver from the forest in front of them. "Dry your eyes, princess," she hissed out. "Damnatorum don't just come into Fenn - they know the penalty for that. They risked this because they heard your friend was here, I'm supposing."

Piper's sluggish blood turned to ice and then pure adrenalin. "Annabeth," she gasped. "My god, I need to go after her."

She made to turn around, but with a snort, Meridie whirled, grabbed a fistful of pink silk, and began to yank her along. "Can't let you do that, I'm afraid," she said.

"Why not?" Piper hissed, digging her heels in and scrabbling to gain some firm ground.

"Because you're leverage," Meridie answered curtly.

Piper was momentarily stunned. "Pardon?" She asked, thrown.

"Paul - the Alpha - is dead. Killed by your guards. Percy has ascended to his father’s position, and his orders are to run." She glanced back at Piper. "You can be used to buy passage; shelter, milady."

Internally, Piper screamed.

But she was more scared for her friend.

_Killed by your guards. Percy has ascended._

God, he was going to _kill_ her.

" _Annabeth_ ," she sobbed out, worry for her friend giving her the strength she needed to break free of the bartenders grip.

Meridie sighed in reservation. "She's fine. Captive, but fine. She's worth more than you are."

Piper, ignoring her, whirled around to face the way they had come, hiking her skirts up, fully prepared to run and fight her way back into Fenn.

With a sigh, Meridie let her go.

-X-

The moment she and her group hit the tree line, Thalia called out an order. " _Shift!"_

The spectacular sound of crunching bone, tearing flesh, stretching muscles and howls filled the air as all the Lupi that had been in Argentum Nocte, as well as a few others, morphed into canine form.

Mentally, Thalia called out orders. She was now second-in-command, Luna of the pack until Percy claimed a mate.

 _Split up_ , she thought in a growl. _Run fast and far, in evasive patterns. Don't head in any particular direction, unless your pack bond starts to weaken, in which case, double back. Avoid the caves by the Parcae Summit. The littles are stashed there. We can't lead the trackers to them._

She gazed around at the wary, battle ready wolves gathered in front of her. _Encounter anyone that isn't pack_ , she ordered. _Kill them._

-X-

The power rush was heady.

Percy hated to think it, but he'd _never_ felt better - never more alive; more in charge of his wolf, never as strong.

Also, he had never felt as angry or grief stricken.

 _Paul_ , he thought. In the recesses of his mind, his wolf was howling for release. It wanted to honour Paul, wanted to _avenge_ him.

Percy wasn't the only one feeling that way. Before his - promotion - his pack sense had only been actively open when in wolf form. Now, as an Alpha, he was connected to all of them on a soul deep level.

As he dragged the princess along, heading for the town square, where the scent of smoke and blood emanated from, he blocked out her fearful sobs, retreated into his mind, and searched for his inner circle.

 _Thalia_ \- she was doing everything a good beta did, and was leading the majority of his pack away from danger. With relief, he noted that Katie, Connor, Travis and Clarisse travelled with her; keeping the younger ones calm.

He nearly turned around and snapped the blonde bitches neck when he realised he couldn't feel Red.

Not ' _out of pack bond range_ ' couldn't feel her; ' _dead_ ' couldn't feel her.

He let out a scream of agony.

Annabeth flinched away from him, fighting his grip.

It was her turn to scream as the bones in her left forearm shattered - though she had struggled, Percy had been in no mood to show mercy to the snit; and had not loosened his grip.

Her sobs began anew.

"Oh, shut up," he snarled over his shoulder harshly.

With faltering breath, Annabeth finally fell silent.

And Percy arrived at the front of the Argentum Nocte.

The body of his step-father lay in a limp heap next to the dainty, red-headed corpse that could only belong to Rachel.

His mind clouded over with rage; his wolf was very close to taking over.

A blonde guard - Jacob? - loomed over his mother, Kali sword raised, as she was bent double over her husband’s headless corpse, sobbing uncontrollably.

She didn't look up, didn't even make a sound, as the sword swung down.

A swing of an arm, a flash of a silver blade, a sickening thud, and his mother - his _mother_ , the sweetest woman in the kingdom - was dead and gone, joining Paul and Red in the afterlife.

Percy let out a roar of rage as he felt the pack bond that connected them dissolve into nothingness, as if it had never existed.

The blonde Guardian whirled in surprise, his blood soaked blade hanging loose in his hands.

 _Perfect_.

With a great tensing of muscles, Percy launched himself at the guard, shifting in mid-air.

As he landed, skidding along the ground, his teeth closed around the blondes pale neck with a savage crunch.

Annabeth screamed, but Percy could barely hear her.

The sanguine taste of Jason's - _yes_ , that was his name - was sweet in his mouth.

_It tasted like revenge._

-X-

_Tamsin's eyes shone with eerie yellow light._

_"We hunt!" She called out to the wolves gathered in front of her, before throwing back her very human head; and howling at the night sky._


	9. Chapter Eight: This Means War

Annabeth had gone past scared.

Gone past terrified; and with her broken arm, she'd gone past agony.

She screamed as the wolven's maw closed around Jason's neck. Even over the shrill sounds she was making, she could hear the grating crunch of snapping bone; the lush wet tearing of flesh and skin.

"Oh, my god..." Annabeth whirled, uneven sobs breaking out of her throat. Piper stood behind and to the side of her, a cloud of dust still billowing around her - she'd clearly just skidded to a standstill.

Her eyes were the size of drachmas and her skin was the colour of one of the porcelain kore that resided in the palace in Athens. Her dark braids were plastered to her skull by sweat, her silken skirts were little more than rags clinging to her skin.

And her gaze was fixed resolutely on Jason.

She whimpered as Percy released him, simultaneously shifting back into human form.

The dark haired boy - man - ignored Piper and stared directly at Annabeth.

Some traitorous part of the princesses' mind noted that, even with eyes of yellow-gold, even with blood stained teeth and gore dripping down his chin, he was beautiful.

She wanted to run, but his gaze froze her. She was the prey in front of the predator; the doe in the hunters sights.

He grinned, revealing teeth stained with red. "You're _mine_ , princess."

Annabeth heard Piper swallow.

-X-

Luke kept his nose to the ground as his paws thumped down in a hard, loping rhythm.

 _Can you smell that_? Tamsin's ears flicked as she raised her nose in the air. It twitched as she breathed in.

 _Blood_ , Luke affirmed _. And fire_.

Tamsin nodded; an awkward movement - one not natural to wolves. _Fenn_ , she said with relish.

When Luke winced, she rolled her eyes at him. _Relax, I'm sure your lady is fine_.

_Thalia is not my lady._

_The Lupi doth protest too much, methinks._

_Shut up._

In unison, they stretched their legs further, lengthening their strides; breaking into a near gallop as they hit the Fenn town limits.

Tamsin wrinkled her muzzle as they passed blazing stables. _Eww. Burnt horse._

 _Yum_ , Luke joked.

_You're soulless._

Once they were out of the cloud of smoke that buffeted from the burning stables, Tamsin relaxed. _Thank the gods, that smell was giving me a migraine_.

Luke groaned dramatically. _Your voice is giving me a migraine_.

Twisting in mid-stride, continuing to run as she pulled her lips back from her teeth, Tamsin snapped at the space between Luke's flank and rump.

 _Ouch_.

_You deserved it, you uncouth bastard._

_Oh, I'm the uncouth one, am_ \- Luke's mental voice faltered.

They had just reached what had once been the town centre. Lying in a broken heap was a pile of headless corpses - wolven Luke recognized. To the side of the pile was a human Guardian Luke didn't know, one with blonde hair, and a still beating heart.

Tamsin slunk forward, stomach low to the ground. _He's been given the bite, Luke_ , she murmured.

A flash of electricity went through Luke.

 _We should leave_.

Tamsin glanced at him and gave him the canine equivalent of a raised brow. _You sound nervous, Luke._

_He belongs to the Fenn alpha. We should go. The princess is gone, but the trail is fresh. We can catch up._

Tamsin cocked her head to one side, proof of her sudden laser focus.

 _This kid_ \- she nudged the fledgling with her nose _\- he's connected to the pack, right? Will be drawn to them?_

Luke nodded his wolf's head.

Tamsin's lips pulled back from her teeth and her tongue lolled out in a wolfish grin. _Perfect_.

-X-

Thalia looked up as she felt her cousin - her _alpha_ \- enter the clearing the Fenn pack had set up camp in.

Behind him were the two nobles girls; seemingly frightened out if their wits. The Filia's arm appeared to be broken.

Percy immediately handed them off to Meridie - who looked far less than pleased with Piper - and headed straight for Thalia.

She tensed, and knew what was coming. The rest of the pack - in human form or other - fell silent.

"My Luna," Percy greeted in a low tone as he knelt down in front of her, baring his neck and exposing all his vulnerabilities to her.

Thalia knew her title of 'Luna' was only temporary. True, she could be the Luna for over a decade, but eventually, Percy would mate, and his wife would become the Luna.

Until then, though, formalities had to be nailed down.

"My alpha," she responded, placing a clawed hand on his neck and digging in.

Blood spilled out from his punctured skin, but he didn't make a sound of protest. Instead, he reached up, his own nails hardening and lengthening into claws, and slashed at Thalia's hip, leaving bone deep score marks and a tattered dress.

"I am yours, to protect, to serve; for the better of the pack. They come first," they murmured in unison.

Percy's eyes met hers, and Thalia removed her claws from his neck with a sick squelching sound.

Rising up from his crouch, Percy turned in a circle, taking in each and every one of his wolves.

"We've lost a lot tonight," he spoke. "Friends, family - but we're still here. We're still a pack." His eyes darkened. "And I have had enough of unfair prosecution; of the prejudice against our race. I'm tired of living in shadows." Murmurs of approval and rumbles of agreement went up. "It's high time we fought back," he roared. "For ourselves, and for the generations to come, we will take what is ours with blood and fire!"

Howls and screams of approval tore the silence of the night apart.

Percy grinned at Thalia, eyes gleaming. "Prepare yourself for war, my Luna."


	10. Chapter Nine: Pain of Everything

The Wolven were animals - _monsters_ \- in human form.

Percy had seemed nice before, but it had all been a facade. His true colours had shone through when he had attacked Jason.

Percy flinched away from her gaze ever so slightly, like he could hear her thoughts and they burned him.

He cleared his throat and shifted uneasily. "Piper," he said. "Do you mind going to see Thalia?"

Piper looked torn. With a glance from her friend, Annabeth understood. She didn't want to spend another second in Percy's near vicinity, but she didn't want to leave Annabeth with him, either.

 _Don't go_ , she tried to broadcast as she widened her grey eyes. _Don't leave me with him_.

But before Piper could protest, Percy snarled, and his eyes flashed with sparks of dark gold. " _Leave_ , sympathizer."

Piper flinched, sent Annabeth an apologetic look, and bolted.

Percy turned to Annabeth, the flash of animalistic anger he had shown towards Piper gone.

In fact, he looked slightly... _guilty_.

He was staring at her broken arm.

Annabeth scowled at him. "This is your entire fault," she hissed. " _Let me go_."

Her words brought Percy out of some daze. His eyes and expression cleared; filled with awareness.

"You want to go?" He asked. "Back to Athens."

Annabeth nodded adamantly.

"Well, good," Percy murmured. "I'll take you there."

-X-

Percy watched in amusement as the princess in front of him turned bright red, and spluttered in outrage.

She held her broken arm at a stiff, awkward angle, as if it pained her.

Percy winced guiltily.

"You can't take me there," she spat out venomously. "Unless, of course, you have a death wish."

He smiled tightly. "I quite like living, I assure you," he said. "And you're not going to let them kill me." Percy turned to leave. "If you try to run, my wolves will tear you apart."

He could feel Annabeth seething behind him. "I'm not stupid enough to run," she hissed. "And why the hell would I protect a monster like _you_?"

Percy continued to walk, but his back stiffened. "Why, indeed," he murmured.

-X-

Thalia was about ready to kill her cousin.

Alpha or no, the fact that he had dared to send the whiny noble to her proved that either he was suicidal, or he wanted her to rip open Piper's carotid.

As he re-entered the clearing, he sent her a look that quelled her bloodlust momentarily; but promised it would soon be stoked up once again, if not totally slaked.

"I need you to take Piper back to her parents," he murmured to her as he pulled her aside.

Thalia waited for the punchline.

He remained silent.

She raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me you're attempting to make a joke."

Percy made an annoyed noise in his throat. "I need you to do this, Luna," he said. It wasn't an order - not for her - but a plea.

Thalia hesitated.

"You don't have to go alone," he jumped on said hesitation. "Take Katie with you, if you want." His eyes grew possessive; the wolf was present. "I'd prefer it if you weren't alone, you're my Luna now, you _need_ protection."

Thalia looked at him. "When have I ever needed protection?"

"You're my Luna now," he repeated. "Also my only living blood kin. The pack has enemies; and we're considerably weak at the moment. It's the perfect time to strike."

"So what are you and the rest of the pack doing?" She hissed.

"The pack is going to spread out across the kingdom and await my call," he said. "I am escorting the princess back to Athens."

Thalia froze. "Mad. You've gone mad."

Percy shook his head. "I've got a plan. But for it to work, I need you to obey me." His eyes met hers; serious. "Can I trust you, Luna?"

"Of course you can, Alpha," Thalia deferred.

With a smile, the Alpha was gone and her cousin stood in his place. "You might want to round up the pups before you leave."

-X-

_In a clearing_

_not too far_

_away; wolves howled_

_and_

_blue blue eyes_

_opened_.


	11. Chapter Ten: Damnatorum

The moon itched persistently at Percy's skin.

Silvery light filtered in through the leaves of the trees in the forest, flooding down on the Lupi gathered in the forest with absolutely no abandon.

It wasn't the full moon - that had passed a little over a week ago - but due to extenuating circumstances, Percy hadn't changed since attacking the Jason boy, which was different than shifting for the pure pleasure of it.

His mother - something deep inside him flinched and writhed in grief-filled pain - had always stressed how important shifting was to Lupi. Not shifting for a week was the equivalent of not eating for a week; _literally_ starving yourself.

It explained how his wolf was closer to the surface, he supposed, how it was so much closer to dominating his human side.

The rest of the pack that was gathered - in human and wolf form alike - shifted uneasily, reacting to the highly strung emotions of their Alpha.

Percy attempted to calm himself.

A presence entered his mind; one that felt of home and family and pack and _Thalia_.

Yesterday, he would've attacked her over the intrusion.

But this wasn't yesterday, it was today, and everything was different.

 _He_ was different.

Waves of calm emanated from Thalia, and she tried to extend some of the emotion to her cousin, letting her wolf interact with his, soothing him.

He slammed walls up, blocking her out.

Over on the opposite side of the clearing, where Thalia stood next to Piper and Meridie, a commotion erupted as Thalia's legs buckled slightly beneath her; the force Percy had sent out flinging back at her with elastic recoil.

Immediately, his wolf's hackles were up, and it was snarling at him, berating him for his stupidity.

 _She is Luna_ , it hissed. _We do not hurt Luna_.

Percy sent apologetic looks and thoughts her way.

A giant, _yeah, whatever_ , came back to him.

He winced. _I'm letting the pack run now_ , he informed her _. Annabeth and I are going to_ _head off, too. I want you to wait till first light_.

Thalia didn't respond with words, but Percy could sense her reluctant affirmation.

Ticking that one job off of the list, he sent out a mental order for the pack to seperate the way he had told them to, and made his way to the clearing Annabeth was being held in.

-X-

Annabeth couldn't see her captors, but she could sense them watching her; could hear the faint crack of twigs breaking and the muffled crunch of leaves being crushed beneath wolven paws.

She tensed in fear as the perpetual rhythm paused; silence reigning as they seemingly retreated.

Annabeth swallowed. She had heard tales of princesses from far off lands that were naught but damsels in distress; they needed a knight or a prince to come rescue them.

 _She_ wasn't like that. She prided herself on being independent and brave and a _fighter_ , but here, in an unfamiliar territory, surrounded by preternatural creatures who were faster and stronger than her, outnumbered her, and knew these woods far better than she did, she was completely out of her depth.

"Hello?" She called out in a wavering voice. "Err...wolven? Hello?"

A muffled, wet, thump came from behind her.

She turned, and screamed, for on the leaf and bracken covered floor, was the bodies of the two wolves that had been patrolling around her, keeping her safe - broken and torn up and bloody; layers of fur and skin peeled back to show more muscle and sinew than should _ever_ be seen; to make it worse, they were both slowly fading back into their human forms - a dark haired girl, probably only nineteen, two years older than her, and a blonde man, his hair nearly scarlet with blood.

So Annabeth screamed again, as glowing orbs - eyes - lit with mirth and bloodlust, began to appear in the trees around her.

-X-

As Annabeth screamed for the second time, Percy swore.

He ran faster, forcing his legs to move at an inhuman pace. Just before he hit the tree line he lunged forward in a massive leap, legs leaving the ground.

He hit the ground in the form of a wolf, front legs working furiously; muscles rippling under thick pelt.

Inside him, as it began to flow through him, taking over almost completely, his wolf rejoiced at the feeling; the way it felt to extend his legs as far as he could and just run.

It was over too soon.

As he drew near the clearing whence he'd placed Annabeth, his lips curled back and a growl bubbled up in his chest.

 _Foreign. Wolves_.

Specifically, Damnatorum. Dark wolves.

He burst through the tree line into the clearing, landing in front of the princess, and snarling at the three dark wolves that were approaching with malice in their eyes.

He shifted into a more battle ready stance.

With the heightened hearing of this form, he could hear clearly Annabeth's intake of breath. "Percy?" She questioned in a tone of heady disbelief.

He flicked his tail at her and began herding her backwards, back into the forest.

 _Who else_? He spoke mentally, remembering their first meeting, back when they had been little more than kids. She had reacted to his mind voice then.

As she did now.

Her already pale face became bone white. "Oh, my god," she whispered.

 _Nope, just me_.

She gulped and nodded at the wolves. "How are we goi - "

 _Speak in your mind_! He hissed at her. _If you can hear me in your head, I can hear you in mine; but they can't hear either of us_.

He could hear her heartbeat pick up in distaste over this idea.

 _How are we going to get out of this_?

Percy was momentarily taken aback at the sound of her voice in his head. Mental voices were different to physical ones, they showed the true personality of the speaker. Annabeth's was pure and sweet, not at all abrasive, like he'd thought it would be.

He also marvelled at how fast she had considered him to be on the same side as her - how fast the dividing line had been drawn; _us_ vs. _them_ , the _murderous_ vs. the _outnumbered_.

 _We run_ , he answered her.

She blanched _. I can't outrun them!_

 _Don't worry_ , he told her grimly. _I can._

With a growl, he backed up until Annabeth was flung onto his back - gods, for a princess this girl was heavy - and barked a challenge to the Damnatorum behind him.

_Catch me if you can, assholes._

-X-

Tamsin's wolves - the ones Lucian had placed under her command - sent up howls of triumph that echoed throughout the Parcae range.

She smiled.

 _They had the scent_.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Of Blood & Curses

Annabeth fervently wished that Percy had been born a werehorse rather than a werewolf as he raced through the woods with her atop his back.

He was running faster than she had ever thought possible - the forest blurred around them, blending into the velvet darkness of the quarter-moon night.

Several branches that Percy's low body could weave under, and his fur would protect him from, whipped across Annabeth's face; tearing her skin. Warm blood seeped into her mouth and she gagged.

 _Sorry_.

Percy's voice sounded distracted.

Annabeth still wasn't over that. She could somehow hear the voice of an alpha werewolf in her head. Okay, she could deal with that.

What she couldn't deal with was the fact that she recognized it.

The moment she had heard the voice speak in her head, a long remembered cry had rung through her mind - _Thalia_! - and she had stared at the black furred, green eyed wolf in disbelief.

 _I know you_ , she spoke.

A sound like a dry chuckle. _If you're referencing ancient history, I believe you mean you've encountered me before now. You don't know me, princess - and you never will. Your prejudice will see to that_.

Confused, Annabeth fell silent.

Behind her, she could hear the sounds of excited yips and howls, as the other wolves caught up to them.

Eyes, glowing with malice.

They surround them, circling like sharks.

A sandy wolf slunk forwards. _You're mine now_ , she hissed.

Annabeth flinched. _I thought you said they couldn't hear us_! She hissed to Percy.

 _They can't_ , he answered. _She's speaking to me_.

Before Annabeth could comment on this, she was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Lying on her back, she was momentarily stunned; the sounds of cracking bone and the lush ripping of flesh and skin, the splatter of blood and the snap of stretching muscles - they brought her back to her senses.

She jack-knifed upwards, scrambling to pull her legs underneath her and survey her surroundings.

Surprisingly, the wolven that surrounded them didn't make a move towards her. Their attention was focused steadfastly on Percy.

Percy, who was now human once again.

She gaped at him. His clothes from before still were on him, and they didn't look wrinkled or torn or blood coated in the slightest. Annabeth wasn't sure how that was scientifically possible - nor how the fact that he'd shifted from human to wolf and then back, yet survived the transition clothed - but she pushed the thought to the corners of her mind and focused on what was happening.

Across from Percy and her was another man and woman - only a few years older than her, really. Like Percy, they'd shifted back into their human guises.

"Tamsin," Percy greeted tightly. "Luke."

The handsome blonde man - Luke - flinched like he'd been hit. His expression seemed to state he'd rather be anywhere but here.

In contrast, the beautiful auburn haired wolf, Tamsin - she smiled at Percy. "Perce!" She exclaimed, feigning surprise over dramatically. "Fancy meeting you here!" Her pupils pulsed.

Responding in kind, gold streaks flashed and came to life in Percy's irises. "What is it you want, Tamsin?" He growled. He didn't deign to glance at Luke.

Tamsin bared her teeth. "We felt a shifting of power." She raised a brow. "I'm guessing Paul is dead, huh, _Alpha_?"

Percy snarled. Annabeth flinched further into the forest floor when she saw his canines and incisors lengthen into fangs.

But Tamsin laughed. Not at Percy - she, too had blanched - but at Annabeth's display of terror.

Percy adjusted the position of his body so that Annabeth was hidden behind him - a clear _back off_ message.

"What else?" He hissed out. "I know you, Tamsin. You wouldn't come near my pack for that."

Tamsin sighed, rolling her pale blue eyes and twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "We don't want you, or your pack, Alpha," she said. For the first time, she sounded slightly respectful. "We want the blue blooded bitch behind you. Give her to us, and we'll go peacefully."

Annabeth's 'blue blood' turned to ice in her veins.

_Why would he keep her; why would he keep her and place her safety over that of his pack?_

But Percy sent a strange, frantic look at her over his shoulder. "No," he snarled at Tamsin as he whirled back to the Wolven girl. "I know what you plan to do with her, you bitch."

Tamsin frowned. "Take her," she said.

Her voice was so nonchalant, so even and calm, Annabeth almost didn't register what she said.

Than it hit, in a wave of vertigo-reminiscent nausea.

Around her, the wolves began to close in.

-X-

Piper frowned at Thalia as she paced back and forth around the length of the clearing.

Most of the other wolves had already left, leaving only Thalia, Meridie, Piper herself, the sweet blonde wolf from the inn - Katie, her two overly possessive 'protectors' - her mate, Travis, and his brother Connor; as well as another female wolf who refused to shift back into human form, Clarisse.

"You're going to wear a trench into the ground if you keep on it like that," Meridie said, not looking up from her cross-stitch, which she had somehow managed to take out of Fenn.

Thalia scowled in her direction as Katie sent looks of amusement at her new Luna.

"Shut up," Thalia hissed at Katie.

"I didn't say anything!" Katie protested around giggles.

"Yeah, but you were thinking it," she said.

"Oh, you can read my mind now?"

Thalia stiffened, and Katie's eyes opened wide as she covered her mouth with her hand in a horrified fashion.

"Yes," Thalia said tightly. "I can."

She resumed her pacing in silence.

The dark reddish-brown wolf barked out something and tilted her head.

"Um, yeah," Connor stated awkwardly. "Clarisse is right. Sunrise is only a few hours away; we should get some sleep."

"I'll take first watch," Thalia said.

Katie and Travis exchanged loaded looks. "Thalia, perhaps it'll be best if one of us - "

"I'll take first watch."

There was no denying the Luna this time. Power flowed from her words; cowing, undeniable, raw.

Piper curled up on the uncomfortable ground, closing her eyes uneasily.

She fell into sleep, with the sound of Thalia's footsteps.

-X-

Uneasy dreams and silence.

Darkness thicker and more complete than darkness.

A heated, pounding, pulse; radiating from his neck.

From the bite wound.

A voice spoke in his mind; the voice of _Sire_ , of _Alpha_.

 _Awaken_.

-X-

Percy's wolf wanted _out_.

The moment Tamsin's order had been given, it had risen up, screaming _shift_! at him.

But he knew he had to be human for this confrontation, had to think clearly.

Tamsin sent a smile his way. "It's not too late to change your mind, prince!" She called out, eyes gleaming maliciously as they took in Annabeth's cowering, surrounded position.

"I think you mean _Alpha_ , not _prince_ ," Percy hissed at his once-friend.

Tamsin smiled at him. "No, I really don't, _prince_ ," she said.

Her eyes said, _I know something you don't_.

A flash of blonde wove in-between the trees behind her and Luke.

Percy smiled.

And Tamsin screamed as Jason took her down from behind. As her body collided with the bracken covered ground, Tamsin shifted as fast as lightning; so fast it seemed almost painless, effortless - like she just melted from one form to another. She wriggle frantically as a wolf in Jason's death grip, and then the two were fighting for real.

Luke made a move like he was about to step forward and help her.

Percy intercepted him. "This has been a long time coming, Luke," he hissed.

Luke looked conflicted. "I never meant to hurt her," he spoke in a low voice. "Not her."

"Your intentions don't matter much, do they?" Percy snarled. "I should've known you would cause her nothing but pain and grief; it's in your nature to do nothing but, _Damnatorum_."

Luke's eyes darkened. " _Go_ ," he hissed, jerking his head at an opening in the trees. "Take the princess and _run_."

To say Percy was surprised was an understatement. But he wasn't about to look a gift escape route in the mouth.

Moving cautiously, in case Luke was trying to fool him, Percy bolted for Annabeth, who was, at that moment, shouting in a mix of anger and fear, as the wolves that surrounded her nipped at her dress and snapped at her hair.

He scooped her up into his arms and ran for the clear path.

"I do have functioning legs, you know," Annabeth grumbled.

Percy ignored her, and pushed his aching legs even harder.

He heard the sounds of battle behind him, but not one single sound of pursuit.

-X-

_The auburn haired, beautiful Damnatorum girl was practically spitting fire._

_Jason wasn't sure how he knew that word - Damnatorum. He hadn't before._

_His wrists and neck burned where silver chains were trussed. Thick, steaming goop that had an acrid scent kept falling into his lap. He suspected it was his skin; melting off like the silver was acid._

_A blonde man - another Damnatorum - was tied up next to him in a similar manner, except more chains crisscrossed their way over his entire body._

_Tamsin - the girl - was mad at him, yes, but with Luke...she felt betrayed. She had trusted him._

_Her eyes were wild as she wheeled on them._

_"Traitors," she hissed_.


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Origin (Of Species, That Is)

_Luna gazed up adoringly at Artemis, hanging onto her every word._

_Next to her, her twin brother, Lucian, scowled, at both the Celestra royal and his sister._

_The twins whereas alike as they were the same. Where Lucian was dark skinned, Luna was fair. Where his hair was as golden as sunlit wheat, hers was darker than night._

_But their eyes both shone a burnished gold colour._

_And under the light of the full moon, they both transformed into wolves._

_Luna continued to smile sweetly away at the aptly named 'Moon Princess'._

_Lucian's scowl deepened._

_And Artemis tried to force down her growing unease._

_It was the beginning of the end, but at the same time, it was the beginning of a new beginning._

-X-

Annabeth could barely hear her footsteps over the sound of her pounding heart. She couldn't hear herself think through the song of her fear.

A while back, Percy had dumped her out of his arms with surprisingly gentle movements, and said a single word - " _run_."

He hadn't spoken since, except for the occasional encouragement whenever she faltered.

Annabeth spoke. "Can we please stop?" She was panting. "I don't think my legs are willing to run much farther."

Percy paused - reluctantly, she could tell - and gazed at the sky before turning his attention on her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"How much farther do you think you could push them?" He asked, eyes boring into hers.

Internally, Annabeth groaned.

Externally, she glared.

"No farther," she answered, an sat herself right down, to prove her point. She crossed her arms over her chest and folded her legs underneath her as she gazed at the Alpha of the Fenn pack, defiantly.

Percy gazed up at the rapidly lightening sky once again. Streaks of pink and purple announced the coming dawn.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair - something Annabeth was quickly learning was a sort of signature of his.

He looked her way once again, and his eyes were shadowed. "The Damnatorum are very traditional." His voice was low. "They hunt only at night - they'll have gone to ground for the daylight hours, even Tamsin won't dare come after us now, for fear of angering Lucian. We should be safe, if only for a little while."

Annabeth's fatigued head began to spin at his use of unfamiliar words and terminology. "Damnatorum? Lucian?" She asked tiredly.

Percy smiled without humour. "I keep forgetting how little you truly know," he said.

-X-

Piper was awakened by what felt like a swift kick to the ribs.

She jerked away and scrambled into a kneeling position as fast as she could, heart beating hard and breath coming fast.

Thalia stood over where she had been laying, her head tilted to the side and one foot lifted in a way that made Piper think it was her who had kicked her. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief.

"You wouldn't wake up."

Naturally, that was her only apology for scaring Piper half to death.

The sympathizer frowned at the wolven over crossed arms.

"You have very fast reflexes?" Thalia offered by way of peace.

Piper sighed, and accepted her metaphorical olive branch. "Thanks, I guess," she said as she stood.

Piper felt grubby. Her clothes were stiff with sweat, torn, and smelt of smoke. Dirt from the ground she had slept on coated her skirt and bodice. Her skin felt as if layers of grit hid it from sight.

Thalia smiled at her. "We're heading to your family's manor, but first we have to make our way through Fenn."

Piper frowned. "Fenn is nothing but ash by now."

Thalia's smile was feral, pure wolf. "That's what you think."

Piper raised one delicate brow. "Oh?"

"Trust me, Piper," Thalia said. "You've only scratched the surface of Fenn."

-X-

_Luna's eyes were hard - no longer was she a sweet and innocent girl, no longer was she a pup._

_"You shall pay for this, brother," he declared._

_Her golden eyes flared black as she gazed at the ruins of the Athenian palace_.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: A Melody of Angry Growls

_The taste of blood was thick on Tamsin's tongue._

_She sobbed as she made her way through the dark forests of the Parcae mountain range, trying fruitlessly to avoid the pale moonlight that filtered through the evergreen leaves._

_There was really no point in this action - the moon was waning, it had reached its monthly apex over a week ago._

_Still, the wolf itched under her skin and howled for release._

_Another sob broke out of her throat._

_The bloodlust of her first change had long since faded, and she was horrified of herself - of what she had done, what she had become._

_She had been on the run for going on two shifts now._

_That was how she judged her time these days - by the full moon._

_By the glowing orb that lit the sky at night and held complete control over her life, over her humanity._

_Once she had killed her father - had sated her thirst for vengeance - reality had crept back in with thin, icy fingers._

What had she done?

_Not knowing what else to do, a wolfsong still flowing through her veins, she'd fled to where Lucian had said he'd await her._

_She'd begged him for help, and he'd told her that she was already perfect._

_That was when it clicked. He'd chosen her for a reason, and he wanted her to become his soldier._

_So, she'd run. She had run fast and run far, and she hadn't stopped._

_Eventually, she knew, Lucian would catch up to her._

_Until then, though, she would continue to run._

-X-

Annabeth groaned in protest as a gentle hand was placed on her arm, and shook her awake.

"What?" She snapped out at Percy.

He barely glanced at her, green eyes fixated on a spot in the trees. He raised one finger to his lips and let out a quiet hiss of air - a clear ' _be silent_ '.

Her heart started pounding once again.

All this stress could _not_ be good for her health.

"What is it?" She leant closer into him as she asked the question, her words barely a breath against his ear.

Some small part of her wondered at her willingness to be close to him. He was, after all, Lupi - and she was, after all, destined to kill them all. Perhaps it was because of what they had been through together, the amount of times he had saved her when it would have been easy to just let her die, that she trusted him so.

Percy tilted his head to one side in a canine manner, and Annabeth had to supress a quiet laugh as she imagined him with his ears pricked up. His eyes unfocused, he said, "carriage."

Annabeth's gaze shot in the direction he was staring.

It was pure instinct. She scrambled into a standing position, fully prepared to run for what must be a road.

An arm like a steel girder wrapped around her waist, and she glared down at the Lupi that was clinging to her almost desperately.

His green eyes had darkened to a murky gold colour, and a low growl was coming out of his throat. His lips twitched, and it was clear he was holding back a snarl.

The wolf was in control now.

"Let me go," she commanded. "If there is a carriage, they will give me a ride back to Athens."

Percy's growl broke off as his gaze moved to her and filled with disbelief.

"Are you stupid, or just innocent?" He hissed. "Lupi are the _least_ of the dangers of the Parcae range, princess."

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat. "Bandits."

-X-

The smell of smoke was thick in the air.

Piper attempted to breathe shallowly through her nose, her arm covering it, so as to block the worst of the soot and ash from flying down her throat.

Thalia turned around to face her and grinned. Her entire face had been turned black by the coal dust and spot in the air, and her teeth were startlingly white against the blackened skin of her face.

"We're getting close, sympathizer," she said.

"Great," Piper coughed out. "How about you tell me when we're there?"

Thalia grinned once more before stilling, as if hearing a sound. "There," she breathed.

Piper was about to question just what she was going on about, when Thalia raised a hand to her lips and whistled out a piercing sound.

Piper winced. "Okay, if that hurt my ears, you've got to be in agony."

Thalia shrugged. "Agony? Try turning into a wolf."

Piper conceded that point.

The sounds of thumping hooves filled the air.

"Fenn horses?" Piper raised a brow.

Thalia grinned at her in an affirmative manner. "Tell me, Piper," she said. "Are you ready to fly?"

-X-

With a start, Luke awakened.

He jerked forwards automatically, and was both surprised and pained when he was yanked backwards by thick silver chains.

Panting wildly, he glanced around frantically, trying to keep down his panic.

He was chained in-between to rather large trees.

The other wolf - Percy's - was gone from sight. Luke didn't want to think about what had happened to him.

He became aware of eyes upon him.

This made him tense. It was, after all, the middle of the day.

Luke only knew of one wolf both crazy and adored enough to go against Lucian.

"Tamsin," he ground out. " _Please_."

The auburn haired wolf made her way to the front of him.

Her eyes were filled with betrayal.

"Your death will be slow," she promised.

She then whirled away from him and hurried into the woods.

However well she tried to hide it, the scent of her tears was strong.

"I'm sorry," he said. Thinking of both of the women he'd ever loved, "I'm so sorry."

-X-

_Frederic let out a mighty roar._

_"I want my daughter found!" He yelled out. "Whoever finds her, whatever their station - beggar, smith, farmer, royal, noble - shall be granted her hand in marriage_!"


	15. Chapter Fourteen: A Counterpoint of Painful Howls

Percy heard Annabeth gulp once, and tried to suppress his surprise as she straightened, tugging her way out of his grip.

As he turned to look at her, he saw the look of steely determination in her eyes.

He raised a brow at her.

"I _can_ fight," she stated seriously. "I've been trained since I was seven-years-old to hunt and kill Lupi. A few human bandits are _nothing_."

That last part was bravado, Percy could tell. Her fear was obvious, a sharp, acrid scent among the fresh evergreens. It tasted like metal on Percy's tongue.

The rest, however, was true.

Annabeth was a fighter - a warrior princess. She'd been taught how to hunt, how to kill - she _wasn't_ a damsel in distress. She didn't _need_ to be _saved_.

She may have been slightly out of her depth with the Damnatorum, but she had been in shock.

Now, Percy could see that she was not going to back down from this fight.

He sighed, and straightened, rising into a standing position.

"Arm yourself," he said.

Annabeth tilted her head at a proud and defiant incline, pure royal. She waved a bronze dagger around in his face.

Percy recoiled with preternatural speed as the sharp scent of silver wafted from the blade.

Annabeth shot him an apologetic look and lowered it.

He watched it warily. Though it appeared to be made of bronze, it was clearly silver, and was jaggedly sharp, about the length of Annabeth's forearm.

"What is that?" He hissed.

"This is Bella," she answered.

"Bella?"

"Short for Bellator."

" _Warrior_ ," Percy translated, still eyeing the blade with what he felt was appropriate wariness.

Annabeth shrugged. Her eyes lit up with ethereal grey fire as she gazed at Percy. "Are we going to fight, or not?"

Battlelust was clear in her expression. That was something Percy could understand, easily, because he felt it, too.

He nodded.

A grin rippled across Annabeth features before she frowned. "Will you shift?"

Percy shook his head. "You're not the only one with a blade," he said.

Annabeth quirked a brow at him. "Oh?"

Percy reached behind him, and with a soft _shlink_ noise, his own weapon slid out of its sheath.

Annabeth's eyes widened at the sight of the bronze sword. It was startlingly similar to hers, except it was a leaf shape, and didn't appear to have any silver in it.

" _Anaklusmos_ ," she whispered as she read the elaborate carving on the side.

The way it was written, the style of the sword - it was Atlantian, all of it.

As was Percy's colouring, and eyes, and accent.

Something that auburn haired wolf - Tamsin - had said, floated back to her.

 _Prince_.

But she kept her mouth closed and silent.

"Riptide," Percy agreed.

As sunlight splintered off of the bronze of the blade, Percy's eyes seemed to become feral and almost golden.

Annabeth felt almost _sorry_ for the bandits.

-X-

The horses were _beautiful_.

Pure black as coal tar, with eyes of red, their manes and tails flew gracefully behind them in the wind, like banners.

Thalia already rode atop one - a mare, she had said its name was Alida, meaning 'as swift as the wind'.

"All Fenn horses are fast," Thalia told her as she urged Alida from a trot to a canter around Piper.

"But you're faster, right?" Piper ascertained. "All Lupi are."

Thalia nodded, continuing to ride around in circles.

"So why bother with the horses?"

Thalia made a movement that might have been a shrug. "To keep up appearances? Because Perce likes horses? Because running everywhere is tiring as hell?"

Piper conceded that that was a fair point.

Thalia reigned Alida to a stop. She nodded to a small colt.

"You want me to ride him?" Piper asked uneasily. However strong Fenn horses were, he was awfully small and young.

Thalia shook her head. "His mother," she clarified. "Her name is Mallory."

"Despair." The name meaning popped into her head like a death omen.

The blue-eyed wolven girl shrugged. "I suppose so."

Piper gulped.

-X-

_Tamsin jerked at Lucian's touch._

_The elder blonde wolven - so like Luke, whispered a voice in her head - smiled tightly in a way that was constructed to hide his pain at her rejection._

_"Go away," Tamsin's voice was thick, as was the sorrowful scent of her tears._

_Lucian shook his head. "I'm not leaving you, Tam," he said as he encircled her with his arms._

_Both his eyes and voice darkened and became possessive as he continued, "I'll never leave you_."


	16. Chapter Fifteen: A Symphony of Death

_Elisabeth Gallows had been destined for nothing but bloodshed and death since her first nameday._

_Didn't her family name prove it?_

_Gallows. Gallows._

_It had provided endless ammunition for bullies when she was a small child._

_She had taught those children a lesson._

_When Peter Redmark had come rolling into her town with his band of merry men, guns blazing and blades flashing in the sun, the readiness to kill whoever got in their way showing in their eyes, El had been, in a word, enthralled._

_These men - and women, how liberal - followed no laws. They had no rules confining them, took no crap from anybody - especially not petty bullies._

_So when they left, after looting her small town - Verity - of what few precious items it held, she stowed away in the back of one of the carriages._

  * _O•_



_Peter Redmark had a bad reputation._

_He knew this. It didn't bother him. As long as it made people more willing to do as he said out of fear, there would be far less resistance - far less collateral damage._

_But reputations can be misleading._

_Though Peter was a criminal, he was not evil. He simply felt that the King was going to run Olympia into the ground. Ever since the death of his wife, the wise Athena, he had been leading his kingdoms into utter wrack and ruin._

_Peter had no intentions of going down with the proverbial ship._

_'Become a bandit' had been the obvious answer._

_He had never wanted to become a killer._

_This thought was in his mind as he made his way to help his friends - his family in all but blood - unpack the carriages._

_A scream, shrill and filled with surprise, echoed throughout the campsite before cutting off abruptly._

_Peter's reaction was instantaneous._

_Whirling around and bolting in the direction of the sound, he drew his pistol and made sure it was locked and loaded before switching it to a ready position in one hand and drawing a long knife in the other._

_One of his women followers - Callistana, named so after the Great Serpent, held a wriggling child in a firm grip._

_"Stowaway," she hissed out, flinging the child at Peter. "Careful, she bites."_

_Yes, she absolutely did; he saw blood dripping down her arm from raised half-moon puncture wounds on the underside of her forearm, just below the wrist._

_His grip tightened on the child._

_Bracing his arm under her chin, he raised his knife._

_She stiffened._

_Moving slowly, gently, he placed the flat of the blade against her cheek, tensing as he waited to see if the silver of it burnt._

_It didn't. All that happened was that the small girl made a whimpering noise deep in her throat as she trembled against him._

_He turned her around to face him. "What's your name?" He asked gently, channelling his latent inner father._

_"El," he said - quietly, but her chin jutted out as she said it, defiance flashing in her eyes._

_"Of?"_

_"Verity."_

_Peter nearly groaned. "Of course," he said. "Why did you hide in the back of one of my carriages, little girl? Did I take something important of yours? A trinket of your mothers, perhaps?"_

_El shook her head violently. "I want to be a bandit."_

_Peter froze. A startled laugh burst out of Callistana's throat._

_"You're not thinking straight, child," she said. "Go home to your father."_

_El shook her head adamantly. Her green eyes darkened and sever strands of pale hair fell into the aquiline features of her face. "I want to stay," she snapped. "If you don't want me with you, you're going I have to drag me all the way back to Verity - kicking and screaming."_

_Peter and Callistana exchanged loaded looks._

_"Fine," Peter said, closing both eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as sighed in exasperation._

-X-

Annabeth wound her body into a tight, tense and ready position.

She was pressed flat along the great bough of an old pine. It was uncomfortable, to say the least; bark biting into her exposed skin and twigs digging into her midsection, but she simply gritted her teeth and withstood it the best she could.

Before Percy had deposited her up the tree, he had scraped her blonde locks back, roughly enough that Annabeth winced on the behalf of her ladies maid, Adelie, who had to brush one-hundred strokes through her lustrous hair, both in the morning and then again at night.

When she had mentioned this, in a biting tone, Percy had laughed.

 _What do you need someone to brush your hair for_? He had asked, failing to supress laughter. _Your arms seem to work just fine_.

Annabeth had scowled but kept silent - how did you explain to a peasant like him that you'd never even _laced_ your own _stays_ \- that the only physical work you'd ever had expected from you was how to hunt and kill Lupi?

A shout from below drew her attention.

The carriages Percy had hard earlier had rumbled to a stop shortly thereafter - they'd decided to set up camp.

She could easily see what the men and women bandits below were shouting about - amidst them, a dark haired man began to cut a swath through their numbers, making his way to the centrefold of the camp.

 _Percy_. His blade flashed in the late morning sun, and he whirled from combatant to combatant - sometimes taking on more than one - like the human embodiment of a whirlwind, an energy more primal and feral than Annabeth's highly cultured and strictly civilized mind could possibly comprehend - however much a part of her sang with it, wanting to throw herself into the fray and riptearkill.

She let out a whistling breath between her teeth, and awaited Percy's signal.

There is literally nothing like a sword to the stomach to get your adrenalin pumping.

The bandits around Percy gave out a great cheer as he fell to his knees, hissing out a breath as he clutched at his pierced, bleeding abdomen.

The bandit that had stabbed him, a girl with green eyes and blonde hair, of smaller than average height and curves for her age, which Percy placed somewhere between fourteen and seventeen, smiled toothily at his 'defeated' position.

With his head bowed down so she couldn't see, he let a savage grin grace his face.

As the girl turned to face the crowd behind her, a searching look on her face, a man with light brown hair tied back with a ribbon stepped forward and smiled at her. His affection was like that of a parent for their favoured child.

"Well done, Elisabeth," he said, smiling warmly. "Your first kill."

Percy couldn't see Elisabeth's face, but he supposed she was more than likely smiling winningly.

Trying to keep his movements slow, subtle, and unnoticeable, Percy ignored the burning agony that was infilling his badly wounded stomach, and began to draw the sword out.

Just as the sick, _squelching_ sound began to draw Elisabeth's attention, Percy ran her through with her own weapon.

-X-

Peter Redmark had grown to love El as his own daughter.

In the past two years, she had become a strong and confident woman, a _fighter_ , to say the least.

Pride flowed through him as he saw that she had been the one to take down that enemy that had dared to attack their camp.

And then horror, as she stiffened and paled, the point of her own sword protruding through her sternum. She turned to face Peter, eyes opened unnaturally wide, pupils barely pinpoints, before sliding limply off of the blade and lying, simply lying, in a crumpled heap on the floor.

The dark haired boy cast aside her sword without a second glance, drawing his own, bronze, Atlantian styled weapon once again.

Blood soaked his front, and he moved stiffly, like the slightest movement pained him, but he lived. He was healing.

And El was _dead_ \- or dying.

His eyes glowed with and ethereal gold sheen.

 _Lupi_.

-X-

Annabeth breathed out a curse as the sword pierced Percy's gut and exited his back, but didn't think on it for more than a second - he was, after all, Lupi, and unless that sword was silver, it would have next to no detrimental effect on him.

She simply coiled her muscles tighter, tucking her skirt in around her; making sure it wouldn't snag when she threw herself from the tree.

As Percy lunged at the man who appeared to be the ringleader - for the love of all things good and holy, was that _Peter Redmark_? - he let out a howl that, while he was still in his human form, was completely animalistic and chilling.

That was her cue.

Bracing herself by taking a deep breath, and forcing herself not to let her eyes close, she rolled off of the edge of the bough she lay upon.

-X-

This was one of the toughest fights Percy had ever been in.

While he was more than competent in the art of swordplay, he was used to fighting with fangs and claws - was used to fighting against creatures whose instincts in battle were similar to his - aim for the neck or stomach. With your _teeth_.

He'd never really fought against humans. It had always been too risky.

Now he was regretting that lack of knowledge and practise.

The man's eyes were red from the tears that were falling down his face. His grief should have been disabling, but if anything, it fuelled his rage.

A feminine battle cry came from behind him, and Percy allowed himself a minute glance in that direction.

Annabeth was whirling around like a whirlwind. A blonde, armed whirlwind.

A growl of approval ripped its way out of his chest as she twisted her blade deeply into the chest of a man in front of her, before jerking it out and simultaneously whirling around and slitting open the throat, and then stomach - guess you can never be too sure - of the female bandit that had been creeping up behind her.

A man grabbed her still outstretched arm and yanked her close to him bracing his club against it.

Percy stiffened, losing all interest in his fight. His growl turned into a possessive snarl, and his wolf surfaced with a vengeance.

Annabeth let out a scream of pain as her arm shattered.

Now she was fighting with one arm, and while in agony.

 _But she was fighting_.

The wolf, that possessive bastard, refused to stay under his skin.

His vision became tinged with gold and warped, he felt his teeth sharpen to points within his mouth. His nails hardened and lengthened, sharpening into curved points - claws and fangs.

The wolf wasn't going to take no for an answer - it wanted out now, wanted to _protect_.

A sharp agony - a silver burn - erupted in his upper leg as the head bandits sword pierced his thigh.

He snarled and lunged for him, shifting into his wolf form as he twisted in mid-air.

He longed to crunch down on his bones, tear out his cartilage - but he didn't have time to kill him. Annabeth was in danger.

However, if he bit him, the bandit would turn - something he couldn't allow.

So he compromised as best he could under current extenuating circumstances and slashed his claws over the bandits chest, deep enough that Percy winced as he heard ribs give way.

The wolf had had enough now. Taking over Percy's mind and instincts, his higher reasoning, it lunged for the group that surrounds the princess, one lone though echoing through the bowels of his animal mind.

 _Mate. Protect_.


	17. Chapter Sixteen: In Which Vows Are Made & Revenge Is Imminent

_The waves were smooth as glass._

_Medea took this as a good sign._

_"Look, sister," she addressed Circe, cautious of their cover story. "Athens approaches."_

_Circe stepped forward to the ships rail and leant over, taking in the sight of elegant marble and olive trees. "It certainly does," she agreed quietly, her lips twisting into a smile as malice dripped from her red painted lips._

_"Did you hear?" Medea leant in closer to her fellow sorceress. "The King had posted a reward for the safe return of his precious Filia."_

_Circe raised one delicate, shaped brow into a perfectly arched curve. Her dark eyes gleamed. "And what, pray tell, is the reward."_

_Medea paused, for dramatic effect. "Her hand - no matter the station of the man who brings her to him."_

_A short, sharp, and startled laugh burst out of Circe's lips. "What a pig."_

_"That's not the best part," Medea confided. "Our wayward son is taking her to him."_

_Circe's laughter cut off. "You can't be serious? You truly believe we should put our plans into motion so soon?"_

_Medea nodded firmly. "All the pieces are played out exactly where we want them. And when the time is right," she made a violent motion._

_"Checkmate," Circe finished for her._

-X-

What with the fact that she was currently fighting for her life and was in absolute agony, you wouldn't think Annabeth would have time to worry about her modesty.

But, oh, she _did_.

A female bandit lunged for her, blade swinging in a wide and deadly arc.

If Annabeth hadn't been pushed out of the way when she was, she would've died.

She landed badly, on her broken arm, and pain radiated up her side at such an intense level that she had to bite down a scream, but she forced herself not to complain or cry. She was alive. Therefore, she could deal with it.

What she couldn't deal with, however, was the state of her dress.

It had already been torn around the skirt hem, stained and smelly, but now it was completely unwearable - long slash marks, as if made by animal claws, had torn through the bodice and now it was no more than tatters of silk against her body.

She sent an annoyed look towards the wolven who had jumped on her and saved her, Percy.

He was entirely too focused on the bandits in front of him to pay attention to her.

-X-

The wolf was in complete control.

The human part of Percy - his higher reasoning, his human logic and instincts - they were buried underneath rage and cold, animalistic fury.

 _Mate. Protect_.

These men and women in front of him had dared to hurt _her_ , had dared to touch what was _his_ , and now the wolf would make them _pay_.

His muscles coiled as he sank into a crouch and prepared to lunge at them.

 _He could already taste their blood_.

-X-

Annabeth could honestly say she nearly died - of fear, that is - when Percy tore out the throat of the bandit whom had broken her arm with his primitive weapon.

The absolute savagery and satisfaction he delivered the killing blow with was both horrific and beautiful.

Beautiful, in a macabre way.

She gulped, trying to ignore the heady, thick scent of old pennies that permeated the air.

The _blood_ that permeated the air.

Percy was just a blur of fur, fangs and fury to her now, lunging from opponent to opponent, not bothering to be clean or humane about it - just tearing their tracheas open with his teeth and letting them die where they fell.

He fought as if he was possessed.

-X-

Thalia had been right - there was truly nothing better than a Fenn horse.

As the sun shifted positions, signalling that Morning had given way to Noon, they arrived back at the place where they had set up camp, a barren, yet secluded, clearing.

Piper saw that the clearing was empty, and opened her mouth, quite prepared to call out for their companions, but Thalia held up a hand in a ' _stop_ ' motion.

Pipers mouth snapped shut. "What?" She whispered to the wolven.

Thalia's face was pale and pinched. Her blue eyes darkened as she turned Alida in a slow circle.

Keeping her movements slow, Thalia drew out a bow and notched an arrow, keeping the string taught.

Piper arched one questioning eyebrow.

"Arm yourself," Thalia whispered. "We've got company."

-X-

Percy came back to himself slowly.

He was first aware of his surroundings - _forest_.

The second thing to come to his attention was the broken sobbing of a princess.

 _Mate. Protect_.

And with those two words, everything came rushing back to him.

He raised his head - his human head, when had he shifted back? - and gazed at the girl known as Annabeth Chase with new, appraising, eyes.

Her dishevelled appearance didn't seem as off putting as it had before. Her blonde hair wasn't as annoying. Her grey eyes were just as intimidating, but now he looked at then with endearment, not anger or pain.

What the ever loving hell had his wolf been _thinking_?

He remembered his mother smiling at him on his first hunt. He'd wanted to go in a certain direction, but his legs had simply refused to take him.

Sally had ducked her muzzle and rubbed it against the scruff of his neck; an affectionate gesture.

 _Wolf always knows best_ , she had said.

And that had shown to be true. Where his human instincts and senses were too stubborn or dull, the wolf had come through for him, almost like having a sixth sense.

It had always known things before he did. It had never been wrong, and had never led him astray.

But there was a first time for everything.

Annabeth raised her gaze to meet his, and as stormy, turbulent grey clashed with sea green, his wolf perked up inside him, ears pricked and tail wagging, the picture of happiness.

As Percy remained still where he was, a whine rose in his throat.

He wanted - no, _needed_ \- to be near her.

Not able to deny his wolf any longer, Percy rose and strode over to the Athenian princess, telling himself valiantly that he did not feel pain when she flinched away from him.

He crouched down beside her, arm outstretched to her against his will.

She shrank further into the ground, further away from him.

"You killed them all," she whispered, tears making her eyes sparkle.

Percy pretended that the glimpses of skin he was getting through the slashes in the bodice of her dress were not distracting in the least. "They were going to kill you." His voice was fierce; protective, possessive.

"But did that really warrant such...brutality?"

 _Absolutely_.

Out loud, he opted for, "perhaps I let the wolf get the better of me."

Annabeth seemed shaken. "Promise it won't happen again."

 _I can't do that, don't you see_?

He ducked his head. "Promise."

She smiled at him, and his heart did not skip a beat. Not at all.

-X-

"You should really get some new clothes."

Percy's voice was low and husky.

"What?"

"Your, um," he gestured at her body. "Your dress..." He trailed off and turned away, cheeks flaming bright red.

Annabeth looked at him questioningly for a moment, before it hit.

Oh, _god_.

She let out a squeal and turned away from him.

"They're bound to have clothes in one of these carriages," he said in a stiff and uncomfortable tone. "I'll wait out here while you get dressed."

Annabeth shook her head. "You should change, too," she said. "You're covered in blood - you'll have to tell me how that works, by the way."

Percy let out a laugh. "The blood isn't from the men I killed as a wolf," he said. "It's from my human kills, and my stab wound."

Annabeth's mouth became dry.

 _Stab wound_.

Her eyes flickered unwillingly to the crumpled body of the girl that Percy had run through.

She looked to be no older than fifteen.

"Just go get changed." Her voice must have betrayed her conflict and guilt because Annabeth could feel Percy's questioning gaze burn holes into her back as she made her way to the nearest carriage.

-X-

Percy wandered straight for Peter Redmark’s trailer.

They were about the same size, and it was easy to figure out which one belonged to him, personally - his scent was all over it.

Climbing in, he registered darkness and dust.

His eyes very quickly adjusted, and he made his way towards the chest at the end of the bed.

Lifting it up, he was disappointed to see that it was full of letters, rather than clothes. He leafed through a sheaf of them, scanning them for anything of use.

Nothing. They were addressed to two women - Medea and Circe. Love letters, probably.

He had just thrown them back down in disgust, and was about to reclose the chest, when two words, inked darkly against parchment, caught his eye.

A name.

 _Sally Jackson_.

-X-

Annabeth was screwed.

She had found some perfectly nice and durable clothing - riding britches made of tan leather, a thickly woven peasant style top of off-white cottons, and a tough leather jerkin.

She would keep her own shoes, but these clothes would do well.

There was just one problem.

"Percy?" She called out, closing her eyes and swallowing her mortification.

There was a minute or two of silence, and then, "yeah?"

"I need help," she whispered, leaning her head, eyes still closed, against the wood of the door.

"With what?" His voice was closer now, it sounded as if he, too, leant against the door.

"I can't get my stays to lace up tight enough."

Percy made a choking noise.

"I need help," she said.

It was silent outside for a moment, Percy's choking fit having abated. "Open the door," he said.

Annabeth did so, trying not to blush.

She very much doubted her success on that endeavour.

Percy looked uncomfortable as he took in her half-dressed state, and also on edge and disbelieving, though Annabeth felt that had to do with something else.

She pivoted, turning her back to face him and sweeping her hair over one shoulder.

Percy's finger brushed along the top of her spine, where the first ribbon lay, gently.

Annabeth swallowed as a shiver travelled through her body.

Her muscles tightened as Percy's hands traced along the edge of the corset like structure, before yanking hard on each of the ribbon sets, expertly tightening and then tying them.

It took several long, silent, electric minutes, but eventually Annabeth was laced firmly in place, and Percy had stepped away from her, seemingly shaken.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she slipped the top over her head and slid on the jerkin.

Percy nodded his head. "No." He looked at her. "That was awkward as hell."

Annabeth burst into giggles. "It was, wasn't it?"

They were both laughing then.

Annabeth saw that Percy had also found new clothes - dark trousers and a dark overcoat, buttoned up.

"Dark colours suit you," she said.

Percy stilled, his laughter coming to an abrupt stop. "I thought it would be easier to hide bloodstains on black clothing."

Annabeth's laughter died in her throat. "Oh."

The wolven was closed off once again. "Take anything of value from this carriage," Percy commanded. "We can use it, to buy food, shelter, horses."

Annabeth nodded jerkily, and realised her hair was still scraped back from her face.

Percy walked back out of the carriage without so much as a word.

-X-

Peter Redmark was not yet dead.

In agony, _yes_ , but he was _not dead_.

The green eyed, black haired wolf monster that had killed El without even blinking was back in its human form, and was leaning over him.

He seemed angry.

"I will...make you suffer...the...the same way...I...have suffered," Peter promised.

The Lupi didn't acknowledge his words. Reaching into his overcoat, he pulled out a thick sheaf of parchment - of letters.

"What the _hell_ are these?" The lupine boy snarled. "Why do they have my mother’s name?"

Peter's eyes widened. "You're... _him_..."

Perseus - yes, that was his name - tilted his head. " _Him_ , who?"

"You're...the ca...the catalyst..."

Something flared in the boys green eyes - somehow, that word meant something to him.

"No," he hissed. "You're _lying_."

But Peter was beyond either confirming or denying his statement.

He was beyond anything.

He was dead.

-X-

_Somewhere, Piper registered as the sticky warmth of her own blood oozed from between her fingers, Thalia screamed._


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Under Pressure

_"The prince!"_

_"He's dying - "_

_"He was bitten - "_

_" - call for his - "_

_" - his parents - "_

-X-

Annabeth found Percy kneeling over the body of Peter Redmark.

"Percy?" She questioned cautiously.

His expression was frozen. He was deathly pale under the bronze of his deep tan, and his green eyes were like fractured glass over river water.

"He was lying," he whispered. "I _can't_ be the catalyst."

Annabeth tilted her head. "You're not making any sense. What, exactly, is a catalyst?"

Percy turned to face her, his eyes hollow holes amidst his haunted features.

"And so it is written," he spoke lowly. "The catalyst shall come, born of noble blood, and bring with him the Death of All."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "I am still very confused."

Percy jerked his chin at the corpse of Peter Redmark. "He said I was the catalyst."

Annabeth's mouth turned down at the corners. "You don't have to worry about anything. You're not born of noble - "

She fell silent.

_Noble blood._

_Auburn hair and malice in her eyes._

_'It's not too late to change your mind, prince.'_

Percy looked at her shrewdly. "What?" He asked her. "You have a weird expression on your face."

Annabeth shook her head. "It was nothing," she assured the anxious wolven. "But not only should you refuse to put your faith in the dying words of a murderous criminal, you shouldn't put much stock into a 'prophecy.'"

Percy smiled wryly. "Don't _you_ hunt wolven because of a ' _prophecy_?'"

Annabeth blushed. "I hunt wolven because I've been trained to since before I could talk. My _parents_ trained me to do so because _they_ are the ones that believe in the prophecy."

Percy looked at her curiously, rising up from his crouched position. It struck Annabeth just how big he was - not only tall but muscled.

It was, to say the least, intimidating.

"You don't believe you are the one destined to break the curse of blood and moonlight?" He asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "It's not exactly that," she said. "It's more..." She trailed off with a frustrated sound.

"It's more _what?_ "

"Is it a curse to you, Percy?"

A startled sound, halfway between a bark and a laugh, broke out of Percy's throat. "Hell no," he informed her. "It's a part of me. My birthright. I feel that I would literally die without it."

"Exactly," Annabeth said triumphantly. "That, _that_ , is exactly my point! It isn't a curse to be broken! Those who are wolven revel in it, and those who aren't fear it. It's only a curse to half of the kingdom!"

Percy seemed startled. "You're smarter than I thought you would be."

Annabeth arched an eyebrow. "Thanks?"

"But, let's say there _is_ a curse to be broken..." Percy grinned wickedly, earlier conversation seemingly forgotten in the light of debating the semantics of age old curses and prophecies with her. " _How_ do you suppose it will all go about?"

Annabeth sighed. "Blood and fire," she said sadly. "You and I both know that if all Lupi suddenly lost their wolves, they wouldn't be... _happy_." She cast an appraising glance at him. "If you could no longer shift because of me - if you were _completely_ human - how would you react?"

His dark eyes were unfathomable. "I would _never_ forgive you."

Annabeth tried to ignore the absolute agony that tore through her body and left rippled of pain trembling in her limbs at his words.

_What was wrong with her?_

She wasn't going to deny that she found him attractive...nor was she going to deny that she had a slight crush on the guy (not that she'd ever admit it to him), but she had only known him for roughly forty-eight hours. His blunt truth should not cause her such pain.

"So, you're saying you'd pretty much hate me forever?"

Percy whistled out a low breath. His eyes locked with hers. "You've never experienced what it's like to shift," his voice was a plea for her to understand. "Yes. _Yes_ , I would hate you forever."

-X-

Piper came to with a painful gasp.

Agony flared within her chest cavity as she took in air.

 _It hurt to breathe_.

A girl with green eyes loomed over her, with a panicked expression.

 _Katie_.

Her lips formed words. Piper was beyond hearing what she said, but her swimming vision took in the words before the darkness claimed her once again.

 _Where is Thalia_?

-X-

Percy froze as pain ripped through him, pain that had not been caused by the uncomfortable topics he and Annabeth had been discussing.

Pain that could only come from one thing.

"Percy?" Annabeth's voice was part startled, part scared, as he collapsed to his knees, a groan tearing through his lips.

"Thalia," he gasped out.

Annabeth was bent over him, running her hands over his back, making soothing noises to compliment the feather light touches.

"Thalia?" She murmured distractedly. "What about her?"

A shudder, more violent than the others, tore through Percy.

"Torture," he gasped out.

Annabeth's hand motions stilled, and he couldn't help it - a whimper broke out of his throat.

She hastily began rubbing circles into his back once again.

Percy's pack link had reopened with a vengeance, and the connection he felt most strongly was the one that led to his Luna.

For a short moment, he was sucked into Thalia's tortured, pain filled mind.

_He saw blood, dripping down silver restraints to a dirt floor._

_He saw knives, coated in blood, and knew that only seconds ago they had been buried in his Luna's flesh._

_He saw Tamsin, and in her eyes was bloodlust_.

-X-

_Jason awoke._

_He was lying in a clearing. The sun was warm on his chest._

_Why was he still alive?_

_A sound, a movement, drew his attention._

_Faster than what he thought was humanly possible - but he wasn't human anymore, was he? - he had whirled around, shifted his body into a crouched position, and a growl was coming through clenched, bared teeth._

_He faltered slightly when he saw who was on the other side of the clearing - a girl, no older than twelve - but didn't relax. He could somehow tell that she was wolven, Damnatorum, on top of that._

_Her hair was chocolate brown, and her eyes were a blue that was a shade darker than his own._

_"Hi," she spoke quietly. "I'm Willow."_

_"And what are you doing here, Willow?"_

_She tilted her head to the side at a disturbingly low angle. Her eyes were chillingly dead and apathetic._

Oh, my god, it's a mini Tamsin _._

_"They said that I have to break you," she said in a bubbly tone._

_"What?"_

_"When you're turned, you're loyal to the one that bit you. Your sire," she said. "But once you've been broken, Lucian can claim you, and we can use you as a spy. You can tell us what the catalyst is doing, because he'll trust you. He'll have no reason not to."_

_She drew a large blade from behind her back._

_It glinted wickedly in the sunlight._

_"I have to break you," Willow repeated_.


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Let The Bodies Hit The Floor

Thalia felt that she had never screamed so loudly.

She could feel her pack, faintly, in the back of her mind - her link to them had reopened - and she did not have the strength to close it once more.

_They suffered along with her._

Tamsin hummed a merry tune under her breath as she gave Thalia a five minute reprieve, sharpening one of the blades that had been dulled by Thalia's flesh and skin and bone.

"You ready to go another round?" Tamsin questioned cheerily as she whirled back around to the Fenn Luna.

Thalia gritted her teeth and refused to talk. She knew that, if she opened her mouth, all that would come out would be a whimper.

"Oh, _come on_ , Thalia," the auburn wolf scolded. "It's can't be _that_ bad - I'm not using silver."

Silver. Thalia shuddered at the thought. This slight movement caused supreme pain to ripple throughout the rapidly healing wounds on her body.

She could think easily of the reason that Tamsin was using a steel blade over a silver one - she could heal from the damage it inflicted quicker.

Tamsin could cause her more pain for longer.

Suddenly, Tamsin was in front of her, pale eyes wide and unblinking, knife poised in an over dramatic position.

"Come on, Exalted," she whispered, as she lowered the blade slowly and gracefully to the bloodied cloth of Thalia's bodice.

With a flick of her wrist, the tight, corset like structure of the dress slit open, baring the flesh of Thalia's midriff.

Cold air hit her now bare waist, and goose bumps ghosted along her skin, aggravating the open stab wounds that lay, scattered, on her stomach.

With one vicious, fast, slash across the top of her breasts, Tamsin caused a scream - a long, unending, agonized scream - to erupt out of Thalia's throat.

Tamsin laughed, a delighted sound.

Thalia was sobbing now, slumped in her chains.

"Good girl," Tamsin crooned, lifting blood-soaked fingers and caressing her cheeks. "Scream for me."

She raised the knife once again, drove it straight into Thalia's stomach, and slowly began to drag it upwards, cutting through flesh and gashing up internal organs.

-X-

Jason felt his blood turn to ice.

Willow took a step forward, knife poised and at the ready.

"Stop," he pleaded.

Willow paused for a small second, hesitation and uncertainty wavering across her face, before shaking her head and starting forward once again.

Jason prepared to defend himself. She was only twelve, but the intent to cause extreme harm was clear in her eyes.

Still, it was hard to picture himself attacking - or, god forbid, _killing_ \- a child, no matter how evil or dark she was.

He was one of the youngest Royal Guardians in Athenian history. Honour was practically his middle name.

There was no honour in what either of them in the clearing were planning to do to one another.

 _Keep her talking_ , he thought.

"Why you, Willow?" He asked. "Why not someone bigger, stronger?"

Willow flinched. "I need to prove myself before Lucian will claim me," she whispered. "I have to break you."

The look in her eyes was beyond desperate - it was crazed.

"Why do you want Lucian to claim you?" Jason asked.

The knife lowered in Willow's grip as she seemed to retreat into her own mind. "My mother will kill me if I'm rejected by the Dark," she said in a monotone. "This is the first order I've been given directly from Lucian. I can't disobey." She seemed near tears. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

She lunged.

-X-

Tamsin yanked her knife out of Thalia's flesh with a sharp tug as she heard footsteps nearing the cavern.

"Who's there?" She called out.

"Relax, princess," Lucian's voice came echoing down to her. "It's just me."

Tamsin narrowed her eyes at the entrance as she heard a second set of footsteps - lighter than Lucian's, more... _feminine_.

She had to supress a growl.

Lucian came into view, tanned and blonde and grinning, but the tension visible in his taught muscles betrayed his upset.

Contrary to him, the dark haired, fair skinned girl that stood by his side was completely serene.

Her dark gold eyes twinkled in the low light.

"Hello, Tamsin," she said, voice low and musical. "I am Luna. It's nice to meet you."

-X-

Years of training and newly made preternatural reflexes saved Jason's life.

He rolled out of the way lightning fast, and landed on his feet - which was a surprise, but a welcome one.

Willow let out a startling ferocious growl, and turned on him, a rabid monster taking the place of the sweet, lost girl from before.

In mid-air, a ripple like a heat mirage seemed to travel over her body.

As she landed, the hard impact seemed to shake her from her human body, and then Willow was a wolf.

She threw back her head and howled to him. Instinctively, Jason knew it was a challenge.

A trembling grew in his limbs as his body attempted to change into something his mind denied.

-X-

Tamsin blanched as Lucian made no move to deny the other wolven's claims.

Moving slowly, she slid into a low bow, all the while gritting her teeth.

"Get up," Luna's voice was sharp. "I do not want you bowing to me, Damnatorum."

Tamsin jerked her head up at the blatant disgust in Luna's voice.

In the stories, Lucian was the enigmatic, charismatic, older twin, who had a dark streak a mile wide. Luna was his sweet and innocent counterpart, the only one that could sooth him when he flew into a rage.

She was the good to his bad, light to his dark, day to his night.

But Tamsin felt that the myths had left out a few key factors. Like, the hatred Luna seemed to feel for Dark wolves.

Or, maybe it was just hatred for Tamsin.

"You have one of mine at your mercy, girl," Luna snapped, eyes flaring. "I wish to have her back."

Tamsin stiffened. "No, she is rightly mine! You've never interfered when we've taken other Exalted before - "

"This girl is special," Luna interrupted. "And I want her back."

Tamsin cast a pleading look in Lucian's direction. He remained stoic.

"Just return the Fenn Luna to my sister," he said in a monotone.

A shocked noise wormed its way out of her throat. "You're choosing her over me?" She demanded.

Lucian looked pained. "Just do it, Tam," he implored.

"Fine," Tamsin snapped.

She turned to Luna. "Thalia lies in that cavern," she pointed behind her. "Go and take her, if that is what you wish."

Then, turning to leave, she drove the knife she still held in one hand into Luna's stomach.

Her back was turned, so Tamsin didn't see the way Lucian's eyes darkened as he saw his sister, doubled over and bleeding.

-X-

Annabeth winced as Percy splinted her arm tightly.

She wanted to let loose several expletives, but held her tongue. She could tell Percy was still in pain from whatever had been going on with Thalia.

He hadn't spoken a word to her since he'd collapsed. She didn't want to admit it, but she was worried about him.

"I think you're good," Percy spoke quietly as he finished tying off her sling and moved away.

Annabeth felt pain, but not from her broken arm.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm good."

-X-

_Teeth entered flesh and Jason felt red take over his vision._

_He blacked out_.


	20. Chapter Nineteen: The Calm Before The Storm

With a hiss, Luna eased the knife out of her stomach, wincing as the serrated edge caught flesh.

Lucian hovered over her bent form, anxiety colouring his features.

 _He made no move to go after his wolf_.

"Are you okay?" Lucian asked.

She shot him a _really_? look. "For this, I demand the return of all my wolves - including the one that my newest alpha so recently turned."

A ripple of indecipherable emotion flickered across the muscles of Lucian's face before smoothing over. "Why would I do such a thing?" He asked. "I shall return your Luna, of course, but the others were taken fairly."

Luna straightened, moving gingerly at first but with more confidence once she was sure the wound had healed.

She sidled up close to her brother, and he stiffened as she moved her lips up to his ear.

"Because your little protégée - _Tamsin_?" She whispered. "She won't live to see moonrise if I do not get what I wish."

Luna pulled back and gazed at her brother appraisingly.

His golden eyes burned into hers.

"As you wish, _sister_. But this demand...it comes with a price."

-X-

"I hate slitting throats," Medea complained. "So messy."

Circe cast her a bored look and watched with blatant disinterest as the other woman bent down over the form of a palace Guardian and wiped the blood from her blade - from his neck - onto his elaborately decorated robes.

"He's a higher up," Circe noted. "Possibly a lieutenant."

Medea made a noise of agreement and stepped over the body to stand next to Circe, careful to avoid the pooling blood.

"All the better," she said.

The two sorceresses' grinned as they began to chant.

-X-

Piper gasped when she saw Thalia.

The blue eyed wolven girl was, to put it both bluntly and lightly, a mess. A complete and utter _wreck_.

Her skin and flesh had healed - thank the gods - but she was soaked in so much blood that it was obvious something heinous had happened to her.

Also, the bodice of her dress was gone - only her thin stays protected her modesty.

Piper swallowed her fury and it settled in-between her chest and throat, a hot, hard lump of burning hatred.

Thalia was being held in the arms of a beautiful woman, one with dark hair and lupine gold eyes.

Katie gasped. "Milady," she murmured as she sank into a crouch.

Piper, whom had been hanging onto Katie's arm due to her faulty equilibrium, got tugged down also.

"Up," the dark haired beauty said. It wasn't in an angry tone, but a commanding one. "We must leave at once."

"Of course, milady," Katie said as she rose up and yanked Piper back to her feet.

She was beginning to feel a bit like an overused marionette.

As the woman holding Thalia began to make her way through the tunnels, Piper whispered in Katie's ear, "who is she?"

"Luna," Katie whispered back. "As in, name, _not_ title. She's practically the Queen of the Exalted. Actually, there's no ' _practically_ ' about it. She _is_ our Queen."

Piper sent an appraising look Luna's way. "How'd she convince them to let us go?" She asked.

Katie looked troubled. "She holds great sway over the leader of the Damnatorum, but she would've had to have bargained something. Something _big_."

The sweet wolven girl sounded uneasy.

"How big?" Piper wondered aloud.

"Big enough to change the stakes of the game," Luna called back over her shoulder. "For now, the Dark has the power."

Katie stiffened. "What did you give them?" She demanded.

"The power of the Oracle has always been entrusted to the Wolves of the Light. For centuries, it has been my job to select Exalted wolven girls to bear the spirit of Delphi. With Rachel dead, and me saving your asses, no new Oracle has been made yet."

"You gave Delphi over to Lucian," Katie whispered, horrified.

Luna's head bobbed - she might've been nodding. "And now my brother has an Oracle at his behest."

She turned to look at the girls and arched an eyebrow. "That means _run._ "

"What about the others?" Katie questioned. "Clarisse, Connor, Travis - "

"And Meridie?" Piper finished.

"Clarisse is dead," Luna said. "She died a warriors death. The Scion was injured. The brothers escorted her to a safe place nearby." She smiled back at Katie before turning to face the front once again. "Worry not, little wolf, I will take you to your mate."

-X-

Lucian held his face in his hands as he took in the too still form of Tamsin.

"Come _on_ , Tam." He murmured. " _Open_ your eyes. _Talk to me_."

One of his wolves cleared his throat with uncertainty. "Perhaps the Oracle has rejected her - "

He was cut off as, with a great snarl, Lucian lunged for him, half shifting in mid-air.

The wolf let out a shrill sound as Lucian's human form tackled him to the ground with bared fangs.

Blood sprayed everywhere as Lucian buried his face into the wolven's throat and tore it out.

He lifted up from the dead traitors neck and stared at one of the frightened wolves that lined the wall of the cavern. Gore dripped all over his face.

"Someone get me a towel," he snapped. "I can't look like this _when_ Tamsin awakens."

-X-

"That smells amazing," Annabeth complimented as she sat by the fire, tucking her legs underneath herself. "But isn't it a bit early to eat?"

Percy let out a low laugh, one devoid of humour. "It'll be dark soon, princess," he said. "And once it is, you'll want to barricade yourself in one of those carriages."

Annabeth raised one brow. "And why is that?"

"Because the things that hunt come out in the night," he said. "You won't be even close to safe until we leave the Parcae ranges far behind us."

-X-

Medea collapsed, panting. "I am not what I used to be," she gasped out. "I swear this spell didn't use to be so exhausting."

Circe, who lay on the ground near her, shrugged. "It was worth it." She hauled herself up. "Hand me the knife, would you?"

Medea obliged.

Leaning over the body, Circe cut open the chest, wincing at the wet cracking sounds. Once she had opened it up, she reached into the cavity, and with a massive burst of strength, ripped the guards heart right out.

"So the first ingredient had been gathered," Medea cackled breathlessly.

Circe's eyes were dark pools of hollow excitement. "One step closer to unleashing the Catalyst."


	21. Chapter Twenty: Wolves & Sheep

_A boy with black hair and green eyes, dressed in the finery of nobility, writhed wildly on the bed which heat upon._

_"My prince," the man bending over him sounded pained. "Fight it."_

_The prince whimpered as a shiver of heat ran through his body, radiating from his left hip._

_From his bite wound._

_The man that leant over him struggled to hold him down as his back arched; his body pulled upwards as if by invisible ropes._

_"Stay human, my prince," the man whispered. "For if you don't..." He trailed off and shuddered at the thought. "Fight for your kingdom, for your family."_

_The prince seemed beyond hearing him._

_His eyes flickered open, and the irises were solid gold_.

-X-

Piper felt her chest constrict painfully as the incline of the tunnel grew steep. Very, _very_ steep.

The loose stones underneath her feet made her traction precarious at best, and as she scrabbled to stay upright multiple times, Katie, who was now in front of her due to wolven agility, turned back slightly, as if prepared to jump down and carry her up the way Luna was Thalia.

"I'm fine, Katie," she puffed out. "Keep going."

The Lupi shot her an uncertain look but turned obediently back to the front and kept marching on.

Piper blinked, startled.

Why had Katie done what she said so easily? Lupi only obeyed a few people - and those people were _never_ human.

She shook it off and kept walking.

"I can see the entrance!" Luna called down. "Just a few metres ahead!"

A jolt of energy travelled through Piper's limbs, and she lengthened her strides with renewed vigour.

Sunlight danced across her eyes, blinding her with its searing light, but she welcome the burn, relished in it.

It meant the darkness - no pun intended - was finally being left behind, in the dust, where it belonged.

When she finally exited the caves, stale air and dust giving way to fresh air and pollen.

"Oh, my god."

"Agreed," Katie sighed, tilting her head back, as if to feel more sunlight against the skin of her face.

Luna smiled grimly. "We're not out of the woods yet," she stated. Then grimaced, glancing around at their wooded surroundings. "Sorry. Bad pun. We're still in hot water."

Katie and Piper glanced at each other.

" _So_...?" Piper asked.

"I'm beginning to feel like a bit of a broken record," Luna said, "but _run_."

-X-

Annabeth woke to birdsong.

 _How cliché_ , she thought sleepily, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back before slumping back down, comfortably.

For a small moment, she wasn't a princess on the run from evil werewolves with the help of a bipolar alpha werewolf, who's mood swings were worse than her step-mothers had been, back when she had been pregnant with Robert and Matthew.

Annabeth snorted as this thought crossed her mind.

Using her elbows as leverage, she pushed herself into a semi-reclined position, and took in her surroundings.

She was lying on the floor of one of the carriages, tucked into a nest made of furs and silk scarves - probably looted from a merchant ship or it's like.

She pushed herself awkwardly into a crouched position, her muscles stiff from sleeping on the floor. Thankfully, she hadn't spent another night in her clothes, as there had been many nightgowns to choose from in the chests full of clothes.

She stood up in a single, fast movement, groaning as she worked out the cricks in her neck and back.

Deciding to see what their next move would be before getting dressed in daywear, Annabeth opened the carriage door and stepped outside, wincing as several sticks stabbed into the soles of her feet.

She sucked in a sharp breath and rolled the majority of her weight to the balls of her feet.

"Percy?" She called out.

No answer.

Prickles of unease began to grow in her stomach.

She tried to stave them off. It was simply the traumatic events of recent hours that made her feel so suspicious.

She wandered around her carriage, glancing at the trees nearby for a glimpse of either a dark haired boy or a black furred wolf.

A sound caught Annabeth's attention.

Walking slowly, gingerly, to the source of the nickers, Annabeth rounded one final carriage.

The sight that awaited her was shocking.

-X-

Percy felt completely at home; in his element.

The bandit's horses surrounded him, grazing on the grass and approaching eagerly for strokes.

He was rubbing circles onto the forelock of a bay mare when Annabeth spoke.

"You're good with horses, huh?"

Percy turned to see the blonde princess standing two metres away from him.

Her hair was a halo of curls around her head and her usually stern grey eyes were warm and open - it seemed sleep had deprived her of her usual shields.

He tried to ignore the warmth and happiness that grew within him at the mere sight of her.

_His wolf liked seeing this vulnerability in her._

His gaze roved over her, taking in and loving the way the thin pink chiffon gathered at her waist and revealed her legs from mid-thigh, the way it accented her curves.

Then it hit Percy that she was a princess and he was a werewolf, and regardless of what his inner beast thought, those were not appropriate things to be thinking.

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Are you alright?"

His eyes flickered up to her smoky ones, and she shuddered as their visions locked.

"I'm fine," Percy's throat was dry. "I was thinking we could hitch a few of the horses up, make use of one of the carriages, since..." He shrugged. "Since, well, we killed the owners."

"You," Annabeth corrected, though her expression and tone made it clear she was joking. " _You_ killed them."

"I'm pretty sure you took down a few," Percy insisted.

Annabeth shook her head. "Whatever, wolfman."

He raised an eyebrow at her. " _Wolfman_?"

She shrugged. "I was trying it out. No?"

"No," Percy confirmed.

-X-

_Lucian stiffened as Tamsin's back arched, her chest pulling upwards as though the spirit of the Oracle was attempting to rip open her chest and claim her heart._

_He watched anxiously as she thrashed on the rock altar, green mist roiling around her._

_"Stay with me, Tam," he whispered. "Stay with me."_

_Tamsin slumped back to the altar, her limbs, her entire body - everything about her - becoming limp. Becoming cold. Becoming still._

_Lucian trembled, and raised a shaking hand, to brush against her cheek._

_As his skin came into contact with hers, her eyes flew open._

_"Tam?"_

_She rolled over to face him, and Lucian gasped as their gazes clashed._

_Her eyes were no longer the pale blue colour they had always been._

_They were now an ethereal, luminescent,_ feral _green_.


	22. Chapter Twenty-One: A Drop In The Ocean

Having Percy help her lace up her stays was far less embarrassing in the morning then it had been yesterday afternoon.

It was difficult to manoeuvre, what with her arm in a sling, but they managed, and Annabeth was grateful for the help...and the tingling sensation down her spine wasn't _too_ awful either.

She was thinking on these thoughts and pulling the same leather jerkin she had found yesterday over her head when the entire carriage shook and trundled forwards a few uneasy metres, before jerking to a wobbling stop.

"What the _hell_?" She snapped out at Percy once she'd regained her footing and flung open the carriage door.

The Lupi shot her a sheepish look. "The horses just got a bit excited," he said, nodding towards said equines.

Annabeth leant out of the carriage further and saw that two horses - the bay mare that Percy had been stroking the evening before, and one grey gelding - had been hooked up expertly.

"Do you have any idea how to drive one of these things?" Annabeth asked, stepping completely out of the carriage and closing the door behind her.

"Haven't the foggiest," Percy grinned. Then, appraisingly, he stepped back and took in the carriage. "More like a caravan, really," he noted.

Annabeth grinned. "A gypsy caravan."

Percy shot her an indulgent look. "No one will ever mistake you for a gypsy, not with hair like that," he said, voice dripping derision.

Annabeth's free hand reached up to stroke her blonde hair.

"You'd pass for one," she said quietly.

Percy stiffened for a minute. "Well, I do look Atlantian, don't I?"

Annabeth winced. Gypsies were refugees from Atlantis, who were not accepted by Athenian society and so were forced onto the roads.

She pushed the guilt to the back of her mind and began to focus, to plan. "If I hide in the carriage while you drive, we should be fine." She stated this confidently. "People will think you're just a gypsy and will leave you be, for the most part."

Percy eyed her shrewdly. "By now," he said, "your father would have posted a reward for your safe return. News of Fenn's downfall would have reached Athens by now."

Annabeth nodded slowly. " _So_..."

"So, every man, and every man’s dog, will be searching for an Athenian princess with long blonde hair - your most defining aspect at face value, princess."

Annabeth gulped, and for the second time in about ten minutes, her hand instinctively jumped to her hair.

 _She didn't particularly like the gleam in his green, green eyes_.

-X-

Percy's wolf was already in mourning.

It loved Annabeth's hair - so did Percy, reluctantly - but unlike Percy, it did not understand the necessity of what he was about to do.

Annabeth looked slightly terrified of him as he pulled out a knife from his boot - just a thin blade, a pigsticker, really.

She clutched her hair protectively with her one usable hand. "No way," she said.

"Annabeth," he cautioned. "You're too recognizable right now."

"Aren't my eyes my most defining feature?" She asked, a little desperately.

"Only once people get close enough to look you in the eyes," he said. "Which they won't do to someone who doesn't have long, blonde hair."

She made a mewling noise.

"Come on, Anna," he coaxed.

She sighed, eyes closed. "What, exactly, do you want to do to my hair?"

"Cut it. Dye it."

Annabeth squinted at him. "Really?"

Percy nodded solemnly.

"So what if someone recognizes me?"

Percy's eyes flashed, and he felt heat travel through his body. His lips twisted and he bared his teeth in a snarl.

Annabeth shuffled back uneasily.

"I doubt every man’s intentions would be as pure as mine, _princess_ ," he growled.

Annabeth straightened, tilting her head back at a defiant angle. Her eyes flashed, too. "You think your intentions are _pure_? I've _seen_ the way you look at me, Percy!"

He jerked back like she'd hit him. His expression darkened.

"Lock yourself back in that carriage," he snapped at her. "If anyone comes that isn't me, kill them."

Annabeth crossed her arms and glared. "Where are you going?"

"To find a plant to dye your hair dark," he said. "If you want to be helpful, you could cut it for me."

Annabeth shook her head adamantly, _no_.

Percy sighed in exasperation. "Come here, Annabeth."

Annabeth continued to shake her head, backing away from him, towards the carriage.

 _Come here_.

She flinched as his voice entered her mind.

 _Get out of my head_!

He smirked. _I will, once you. Come. Here_.

She frowned at him, but her legs slowly dragged forwards by an inexorable pull.

Percy's wolf growled in pleasure once Annabeth was in arms reach of him. Percy gently placed one hand on her waist and turned her, so he was faced with her back.

He lifted his hand off of her waist and twisted it in her hair, marvelling at its warmth and silkiness before gathering it at the nape of her neck in a rope.

Annabeth gulped. "How short are you going to cut it?"

Percy didn't answer. He raised the knife and slid it under her hair, tensing it out before slashing through the golden tresses with one quick slice.

Annabeth flinched away from him the moment she felt his hands leave her.

She turned to face him, eyes wide and stricken. "How does it look?"

Percy smiled. "Fine."

And it did. It hit about mid-neck, which made her face seem younger. Sweeter. More vulnerable and unsuspecting. At the same time, it framed her face nicely, revealing sharp cheekbones with new definition. Her eyes seemed bigger, brighter. It was shorter at the back, longer at the front, and had jagged and uneven ends which, surprisingly, made it all the more attractive to Percy.

It made her seem wilder. More feral. More animal.

 _More wolf_.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're lying. I must look awful."

He caught her chin with his hand, tilting her head up and making her eyes meet his. "I promise you, I'm not lying."

Annabeth's eyes softened under his earnest gaze, and her pink lips parted.

Percy's thoughts went down inappropriate paths, and he jerked back before he did anything stupid.

Annabeth stood there, blinking at him confusedly.

Clearing his throat and avoiding eye contact, Percy held his knife out to her. "In case you want to neaten it up a bit."

She twisted the knife in her hands. "You're still going to dye my hair?"

Percy grinned viciously. "Black, or brown?"

-X-

Piper stumbled, exhausted.

They had been walking all night. Just before dawn, they had broken out of the woods and were now on one of the official roads that ran through the Parcae mountain range.

"Just a little bit further," Luna panted. She was no longer cradling Thalia in her arms - the Fenn Luna had recovered enough to walk, with support; she used Katie and Luna as crutches.

"Where did you stash them?" Piper panted.

"There's more than one cave system in the Parcae range," Luna answered grimly.

She shot a look over her shoulder at Piper. "We'll be there soon."

-X-

_Poseidon growled. "What do you mean; there is no news of my son?"_

_Next to him, Amphitrite sat, regal as ever, but her skin was pale and her eyes were fear filled._

_The messenger shifted uneasily. "The prince landed safely on Olympian soil with Delphin. They travelled from the coast to an inn just outside of the Parcae range. Nothing has been heard from them since."_

_Poseidon relaxed a finite amount. "He is probably just tracking the princess - the town she was last spotted in was near there."_

_Amphitrite spoke up. "Thank you, messenger." She gestured at the doors, and he was led out._

_The regents were alone._

_"Triton will be fine, love," Poseidon smiled at his wife. "And once he has taken the Filia back to Athens, our kingdoms will finally be united, as was the plan so many years ago."_

_Amphitrite swallowed her fears. "Our son is strong," she said. "He is a warrior_."


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two: Black & Silver

When Jason awoke, flashing streams of coloured light marred his vision.

Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusted to the heavy darkness that enclosed him and, one by one, the lights flickered and petered out.

_All except two._

Two neon green globe shaped lights still shone strongly in one corner of whatever room or cave Jason was trapped in.

As he fixated on these lights, they moved - rising up in a bobbing motion.

With a chill, he realised - _rising up as If attached to the face of a human being, or a Lupi in human form_.

Stepping closer to him so his preternatural eyesight kicked in, Tamsin Rinaldi smiled, once pale blue eyes glowing luminescent green through the auburn bronze strands of her too long fringe.

"Jason," she said, and her voice was gentle. "I've heard some fascinating things about you." She smiled. "I think it's about time you and I had a chat, huh, _Changeling_?"

-X-

Annabeth gritted her teeth as Percy let out a low growl under his breath and yanked her head back into the large wooden basin, sloshing soapy, dirty water everywhere.

She could feel the angry alpha burning holes in her skull.

"Can you not just remain still?" He exploded incredulously.

"You're cutting away a part of me," the princess snapped back. "And now you are maiming it even further. I cannot remain completely still, as that would suggest that I was happy about it, which I am not."

She couldn't see his expression, but surmised that 'mild bafflement' was probably the kindest and least exaggerated way to put it.

A snort broke its way out if her throat as she saw it in her mind’s eye.

"I wouldn't have wasted that breath if I were you," Percy said grimly as he forced her head under the water.

-X-

Circe shuddered as a wave of pure, raw power swept over the land, bringing her to her knees.

 _"No,"_ she whispered, wide-eyed.

"Circe? Sister, what is it?"

Medea clambered out of their caravan. She had not felt what Circe had, as their home - their mode of transport - was shielded against foreign magic’s.

Circe turned to her ' _sister_ ' hopelessness shining bleakly through her eyes. " _He's_ here," she whispered. "He has come."

Medea's lips parted slightly in surprise before she regained her composure. "Well, good," she said in an admirable show of bravado and haughtiness. "He is part of the prophecy, as you well know."

 _"And so it is written_ ," Circe murmured, as if in a trance _, "that with the help of a close friend, the Catalyst shall lead an army that will never die, for that which is already dead cannot die once again_."

" _Yes_ ," Medea breathed out hungrily, gulping in big breaths of air as if trying to taste the magical traces he had left. "The Ghost King has come to play his part."


	24. Chapter Twenty-Three: The End of The Range

Annabeth gasped desperately for air, sputtering and coughing at the taste of the soapy water as Percy released his grip on her shoulders.

"Sorry," he murmured as he brushed sopping locks back from her forehead and wiped off water with one sleeve.

"I'll _show_ you _sorry_ ," she coughed out as she shuddered in his arms, near hacking up a lung.

"I didn't mean to nearly drown you," he protested. "I was just trying to get the paste out of your hair."

Annabeth's frantic motions stilled for a second, until her lungs made it clear that she needed to dispel more air, and she began heavily coughing once again - a heavy coughing that grated against the sides of her throat like sandpaper.

The vicious motion shook some hair forward, and she nearly had a conniption at what she saw.

Short, _black_ hair.

-X-

Jason slowly, gingerly, began to lever himself into a sitting position, prepared at any moment to drop his weight back down onto the bed if Tamsin displayed any sort of anger or displeasure at his actions.

The Damnatorum girl was even more terrifying now than she had been the last time Jason saw her, just over twenty-four hours ago; and the feral green of her irises, the unnatural glow of her skin - this only added to her aura of menace and unpredictability.

She didn't make any move to stop him, simply continued to smile.

"What do you want from me?" He asked warily.

"Many things," Tamsin answered. "But for now, I am letting you go."

Jason blinked spasmodically a few times. " _Why_?"

Tamsin shrugged. "Simply keeping up our end of the bargain," she stated ambiguously, moving aside from the entrance to the cave area he was enclosed in, and gesturing to the outside. "But do not let this lull you into a false sense of security," she warned him. "We are not done with you yet."

-X-

Medea shuddered as she glanced over at Circe, who lay curled up in one corner of their caravan, muttering words over and over again.

 _Dies Irae. Rex Morte. Dies Irae. Rex Morte_.

"Sister?" She asked cautiously.

Circe's eyes flickered to her briefly, yet remained blank.

 _"Carpe Nox_ ," she whispered, before finally falling silent.

-X-

Annabeth had spent a vast majority of the day sulking in the back of the carriage they had looted from Peter Redmark's envoy.

Once her hair had dried and the colour had shone through with a vengeance, she had been... _distraught_ , to say the least.

With her hair a shining, vibrant, midnight black, the entire dynamic of her face had changed.

Her cheekbones had become more prominent, though that might have been due to the new length of her hair. Her eyes, which had always glowed like silver stars, now radiated light like moonbeams sparkling in her face. Her skin, which had always been tanned compared to that of the rest of her family, was now as fair as milk.

She felt as if she didn't know who she was anymore - as if Percy had taken away some integral part of her.

Annabeth knew this was silly. It was not her looks that made her who she was, but her mind and her soul.

She gritted her teeth and tried to move past her anger and hurt so as to focus on what was happening around her.

The ride, for which Annabeth had been locked up in the carriage for most of, had been smooth for the most part, Percy somehow managing to keep it on a steady speed despite his claimed lack of experience in the area of carriage driving, had suddenly become bumpy.

 _Became bumpy_ , Annabeth realised, _as Percy slowed to a gradual stop_.

She heard his footsteps as they made their way around to the front door of the carriage from the drivers stoop.

With what appeared to be a light push, the door swung open to reveal Percy standing in the doorway.

"Hey," he greeted her. "We're leaving the Parcae range."

She perked up slightly. "Really? Finally?"

He nodded in affirmation. "Just a few more miles and we are at the Parcae Inn, last place in Olympia considered to be part of the range on this road."

A flash of a grin - her first in a while - slid across her face.

"About time."


	25. Chapter Twenty-Four: Lieutenant

It was dusk by the time the roadside trees, which had been gradually thinning, gave way to actual road and civilization - in the form a tavern.

Annabeth leant forward from her crouched position by the carriage window and squinted as she tried to get a better look at the sign above the doorway.

'The End of The Road,' it read.

"Last inn this side of the range," Percy whispered back to her loud enough to be heard over the sound of the horses and their clinking gear.

"The name does wonders for the aura of the establishment," Annabeth muttered.

Percy snorted. "It has good food and good people," he told her. "What else could you wish for?"

-X-

Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano was, in a word, _tough_.

She had to be, to work as a barmaid so close not only to the Parcae range, but to the town of Fenn, which, being populated entirely by Lupi, brought forth a menagerie of unsavoury characters.

Another thing that Reyna was, was _trustworthy_.

Sally Jackson had pretty much raised her for her formative years; had rescued her from the cruelty of Circe when she was only a very small child.

Until the age of twelve, Reyna lived with Percy and Sally and Paul in Fenn, one of the family. She even called Percy 'brother.'

But once she became a teenager, a young lady, an 'almost adult,' she moved away, planning to live out her own life from beyond the borders of the quaint little town.

The End of The Road offered her both freedom, and excitement - and all the while, home was not too far away if she wished to travel back.

The tavern was also a great place to hear things that one shouldn't - no one cares what a simple barmaid overheard.

She had discovered Percy's true identity only three months after gaining a solid position in the inn, placing together scraps of overheard whispers and years of suspicious conversations between her foster mother and Meridie.

She had confronted Sally, whom had told her everything she knew, which actually wasn't a lot, though it did explain how Sally had gotten mixed up with Circe.

Reyna hadn't returned to Fenn since, afraid to look Percy in the eyes.

And now, if the rumours were true, she'd never be able to go home again.

Holding a tankard of mead in one hand and a damp cloth in another, she made her way over to were a man wearing crumpled royal livery sat, dejected.

"You look like you could use a drink," Reyna informed him, wiping the dark wood of his table down before placing the tankard on front of him.

The man looked up slowly, seeming to process Reyna's words through a thick haze.

"Thank you, Miss...?"

"Ramirez-Arellano," she said. "But that is a bit of a mouthful, so Reyna'll do just fine."

A faint smile. "Miss Reyna, then. An unusual name, but beautiful, nonetheless."

If it had been another man saying these words to her, she would have taken them as a come on and left immediately, but the sad man in royal livery said them as he stared morosely into his drink; nothing more than cold, hard fact.

"You're not from around here," Reyna stated warily, attempting to get a conversation going so she could gain some useful information for when Percy undoubtedly turned up at her doorstep. "That insignia isn't Athenian." A flash of realization hit her, and she leaned in just the tiniest bit closer, her eyes widening as they took in the familiar crest. "It's _Atlantian_."

The man’s head jerked up at the sound of her panicked tone.

"I assure you, I mean no harm!" He cried out, hands outstretched in a placating manner.

The man in Atlantian livery had taken Reyna's panic the wrong way. She was not fearful because, as an Athenian, she had a deep-seated fear of those from the Land of Water, but because Percy could be arriving any day now, and _how the fuck would one of Poseidon's men not see the resemblance between her adoptive brother and their king_?

"Are you staying long?" Reyna asked sharply.

The man looked surprised at her sudden change of tone.

"For a few days, perhaps," he said cautiously. "A week at the most."

Reyna tried to remain calm. "Are you here alone?"

He looked even more perplexed. "No, I am travelling with...I am completely by myself," he hesitated at the last second.

"Travelling with whom?" Reyna arched an eyebrow.

"The Crown Prince, Triton," he murmured, defeated. His head dropped into his hands. "We are under orders from His Majesty to find the High Princess and claim her hand for Atlantis."

A chill went down her back. "And where is the prince now?" Her voice was hushed.

The man blanched. He shifted uneasily beneath her steady, dark gaze. "He is upstairs. Injured."

Reyna was no fool. She could read between the lines.

"Injured whilst in the range?" She asked casually.

The man nodded reluctantly.

 _Bitten, whilst in the range_ , Reyna concluded.

"I have some friends coming soon," she tried to comfort him. "At least one is skilled with dealing with... _injuries_ gained amongst the range. He may be able to help."

The man smiled bitterly. "I doubt anybody could help," he said. "But thank you for your kind words."

"You are welcome...?"

"Delphin. Lieutenant Delphin of Atlantis."

-X-

Thalia blinked slowly, disoriented, to say the very least.

"Hey, look," a familiar voice said. "Lassie awakens."

"What?" She croaked out around a dry throat, struggling to pull herself into a sitting position.

The annoyingly bright and perky face of Piper McLean hovered above her. "Hi," she said.

"Where?" Thalia said.

"Another cave system," Piper babbled. "You know, my old tutor always told me that the Lupi lives in caves. I guess he was at least half right, huh?"

Thalia shot Piper a derisive look. "I'll eat you if you don't shut up."

Piper laughed. "Wolf, I see your sheep's clothing," she intoned deeply.

A shiver of foreboding ran down Thalia's spine.

-X-

Donovan stared unblinkingly, unflinchingly and unashamedly in the direction of the so called 'Ghost King.'

Kid couldn't be more than thirteen.

His eyes - so dark, almost black; they showed no pupil - stared balefully into the shallow depths of Don's own.

"This your carriage?" He asked, nudging one wheel with his foot.

Don nodded.

The kid lobbed a small - yet heavy - leather coin purse at him. "I need passage to Fenn."

"But Fenn doesn't exist anymore!" Don protested. "It's ash and rubble by now, mate."

Dark flames seemed to ignite in the boy's eyes. "I need passage to Fenn," he repeated.

Don swallowed and nodded, breaking out into a cold sweat.

He suddenly smiled, flames flickering out, and he was an ordinary, if slightly sullen and creepy, pre-teen once again.

"Thanks," he said happily. "Oh, and _don't_ call me _mate_."

The last bit was delivered in a tone that was clearly threatening, and Donovan swallowed once again as the kid clambered into his carriage.

-X-

Jason didn't know what he was doing.

Didn't know where he was going.

Didn't know why he hadn't done as his training insisted, and ended his monstrous existence yet.

All he knew was one thing, one word, that kept pumping around in his head with each beat of his heart.

_East. East. East._

-X-

"So, what is this place?" Annabeth asked.

"It's a tavern," Percy stated in an infuriatingly obvious tone.

"Well, yes," Annabeth said. "I _can_ see that. What I meant was, how do you know it?"

Percy grinned at her as she clambered out of the carriage, far from gracefully. "Meridie's family has run it for generations," he said happily. "My sister works here."

Percy took in her astonishment with a grin. "Come on," he told her, taking her gently by the wrist and tugging her towards the doors, "I'll introduce you."

-X-

When Percy said his sister worked in the inn as a barmaid, Annabeth automatically began looking for what she would expect Percy's sister to be like - black curly hair, green eyes, infuriatingly pretty.

She did not expect to be greeted by the teak skinned, ebony haired, dark eyed Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.

"Err..." She said. "Your _sister_?"

Both Percy and Reyna broke into wide, brilliant grins, and for a minute Annabeth could see it - the resemblance.

"Adopted," Reyna explained.

"Are you Lupi, or...?"

"I'm human," Reyna said. "Completely, fully, 100% human."

As if that was his cue, Percy began to steer the conversation in the direction he wanted.

He leant in closer to Reyna an whispered, loud enough that the three of them but no one else could hear, "what can you tell me?"

Reyna gave him a sorrow filled look. "Percy," she whispered back. "There's something you need to know."

A coldly ominous feeling trickled its way through Annabeth's veins.

Percy tilted his head to the side. "What?"

"Who you truly are." Reyna pointed at a man sitting by himself, "you need to speak with him Percy," she said. "You need to understand."

Percy looked confused, but it was clear he trusted Reyna.

Annabeth expected him to head straight for the man, but he instead he first turned to her.

"Are you coming with me?" He asked. His expression was smooth as glass, but his eyes - so green and alive - were filled with fear and confusion and _need_.

He _needed_ her there with him. Wanted _her_ there.

A spark of pleasure flowed through Annabeth, chasing away the cold foreboding from before.

"Always," she said, as she slipped her hand into his.

-X-

_And so it was written as it was foreseen,_ __The wolves clash with the sheep; the Catalyst between.__

_And the Final Peace comes at too high a cost,_ __For while the battle is won...__

_...his True Love is lost._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a sequel pending (it's been pending since 2014, but whatever). There are a few, rough chapter of it available on ff.net if you're interested. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.


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